*A/N- Welcome to my Pirate AU, Trouble Waters! (Part one of the "Stormy Seas" series) I sincerely hope you like it!
x
"What do you want to do, Captain?"
Lucy heartfilia stood on the end of the dock, her outline dark against the cloudy sky as she watched the storm roll into the bay. She didn't respond at first, instead inspecting the rolling clouds that were a mirror of the tossing waves below. The sky was dark, visibility was low. There would be a storm tonight, and from the looks of things, it was going to be a bad one. She'd have to be insane to sail out into this.
It would be dangerous, but then again, so was the person waiting for her on the other side of this storm. The person that was no doubt lurking out there somewhere, waiting for her to make a move. If she waited for perfect visibility then there would be no escape from him, he would have the same advantages as she did. She had to decide which threat posed more danger to herself and her crew. She shifted, and the long wounds on her back twinged painfully. She knew what she had to do.
"We set sail tonight. Ready the ship."
~*Cloudburst*~
"Natsu, we need to know your orders," Erza said. Natsu stood at the bow of the ship, watching the mouth of the bay carefully. What would she do? Would she sail into the storm or would she wait it out? "Natsu?" Erza repeated. Natsu ignored her and took his time replying while Erza waited impatiently for his answer.
"She'll be sailing into the storm, so we're going to follow her."
"She'd have to be a fool to sail into this, Natsu," Erza said pointedly.
"Oh she's no fool," Natsu murmured. "She's brilliant, but desperate to get this shipment through after we foiled her last attempt. She's going to sail into the storm in an attempt to escape me, but it won't work."
Behind Natsu's back Erza nodded solemnly and strode away to convey his orders the the crew.
~*Ionosphere*~
"We can't!" Levy cried. Lucy turned to face her, her face set in determination.
"We have to," Lucy replied. "It's the only way to escape him."
"Escaping him won't matter if we get ourselves killed in the storm!"
"I'd rather risk sailing into a hurricane than risk another nautical battle with Dragneel, I shouldn't need to remind you last time we crossed fire with him we lost a dozen people." Levy sighed, no she didn't need to be reminded, she was the one who had to help Wendy tend to Lucy's still healing wounds.
"But this storm could sink us!"
"So could he!" Lucy exclaimed, "and as far as I know Mother Nature has no personal grudge against the Heartfilia Private Navy and Trading Company. Natsu Dragneel has a vendetta against us and will stop at nothing to take us down."
"So who says he won't sail into this storm after you, then?" Levy asked.
"Even that filthy pirate has a code, he won't endanger the lives of his crew just for me. Like you said, this storm could sink us, sailing into it is practically suicide."
"You say that yet you'll still risk it?"
"We have the best crew in the seven seas, Levy, we can make it through this storm, I have faith in us."
"Alright, but what if you're wrong? What if Dragneel follows us into the storm? He has an excellent crew as well."
"It will be far easier to escape from him in this low visibility." Levy couldn't argue with that. As long as they had a few hundred feet on the pirate crew, they would be virtually invisible. Levy took one last look at Lucy's determined face and sighed, knowing the decision was made.
"Alright, I'll alert the support crews to ready the guard vessels."
"No," Lucy said, "tonight the Heartfilia command vessel sails alone."
"But Lucy-"
"It will be easier to escape him if we don't have other ships slowing us down. All of the merchandise is stored on our vessel, if we make a clean getaway then the trade will be successful." Lucy strode down the dock to her ship and began barking orders as soon as she was within earshot. Her crew began scrambling around, a few of them calling out questions just like Levy's.
"We will be setting sail tonight. I want all animals shut up in my office, and all cargo and loose objects to be moved below decks, is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," the crew replied. Lucy made her way to the wheel to observe her crew working.
"Are you sure?" A low voice asked at her shoulder. She glanced over her shoulder at Jellal, one of her advisors that shared the title of second in command with Loke, who was also approaching them, looking concerned.
"Lucy I don't know if this is a good idea, I've just spoken to Wendy and she said that this is likely to be the worst storm she's ever seen." Lucy sighed, and cast another look at the sky.
"We've already been at this bay for too long, Dragneel could be here any day, if he already isn't out there hiding somewhere waiting for us to leave. There's an island that my father owns not far from here, no one lives there, no one knows about it. We should be safe there. We just have to get out of here." The boys nodded and left. Lucy left her position at the wheel to climb up to the crow's nest to see Wendy.
"Lucy, did Loke tell you? I don't think sailing right now is a good idea."
"Yes, Loke told me, but we have to go no or risk another battle with Dragneel."
"But Lucy," Wendy said, "this storm, I've never felt anything like it before. It's wilder, more dangerous, like a sleeping monster just starting to wake up."
"Is there magic in it? Are your mother's people behind it?" Wendy shook her head.
"That's what worries me, Lucy, there's magic in it, but I don't think the mermaids are fueling this storm, it's more like they're trying to tame it. It scares them too, and I don't think they'll be able to control it."
"Can you tell how long it will be until the storm starts?" Wendy paused and closed her eyes, taking deep, slow breaths. Lucy waited patiently for her to finish. Since Wendy was only a child she had yet to gain complete control over her considerable power as a child of the Tempesta Clan, though what she was already able to do was incredible.
"An hour, two if we're lucky."
"And is there anything you can do to delay it a little longer?"
"I might could try to disperse the clouds with some wind, but I'm still not powerful enough to clear the sky."
"That's alright, because even if you could I wouldn't want you too. Just hold off on that for now, wait until I give the order to disperse the clouds, and until then just keep our sails full, but don't stress yourself too much, I'm going to put Juvia and Aquarius on tides."
"Both of them?" Wendy asked, incredulous. It wasn't often Lucy asked them both to manipulate the tides at once, usually they took turns. Lucy nodded.
"We need to clear the worst of this storm as soon as possible." Wendy nodded and turned her attention back to the sky, looking anxious.
"I'll let you know if there are any changes," Wendy said. Lucy nodded and began climbing back down to the deck, searching below her for the two heads full of long blue hair.
She found both of them standing at the stern, looking determined.
"Good, you're both already out here," Lucy began.
"I assumed that you would want both of us working to keep us on track during this storm," Juvia said.
"You were right," Lucy said. "But I'm changing our destination. There is a deserted island that my father owns to the east of here, Aquarius, do you know it?"
"Yes."
"I want to go there. We should be safe there during the storm." The girls nodded.
"I will follow Aquarius's lead on this one," Juvia said.
"Good, I'm really counting on you guys. Wendy says we have an hour, two at most, so we need to get there as fast as possible." They nodded again, and Lucy returned to the wheel, pleased when she saw that they were now ready to leave.
"Alright everyone!" Lucy cried. All eyes turned to her, "we need to get out of this bay and onto the open water as quickly as possible! Let's get moving!"
~*Wind Shear*~
"Are you sure that she's going to be sailing?" Gray asked, looking skeptical, "From what I've seen of her there's no way that she'd be stupid enough to go out into this mess."
"Are you callin' me stupid, Ice Princess?" Natsu asked testily.
"Maybe I am, you stupid pyro!" Gray snapped.
"That's enough!" Erza ordered. "This is no time for you two to be fighting like children. If Natsu says that Heartfilia is going to be sailing into the storm then I believe him, you know he has a sixth sense about her." Gray grumbled something, but returned to his position. Erza rolled her eyes. She knew while those two argued often and pretended to hate each other they were actually quite close and would be very upset if something happened to the other one.
Natsu took his place at the wheel and looked over his crew, who were all preparing to sail. He could smell the storm in the air, and knew that it was going to be bad, but he had faith that his crew would pull this off. They were the best in the seven seas afterall. There was no way they'd let a dumb old storm get the better of them.
"Romeo!" He called, tilting his head back so he could look at the boy perched in the crow's nest, "be on the lookout for a ship coming out of the bay!"
"Alright!" Romeo replied.
"Alright guys listen up," Natsu called, "today's the day that we are going to finally take down the Heartfilia trading company for good! I want this ship ready to make chase at a moment's notice, I won't let that evil woman escape again!"
A great cheer went up from the crew and they all went back to work, securing loose objects, preparing to raise the anchor, and taking up ready positions for the chase. Natsu was determined to take out Lucy Heartfilia. Losing her, the reason her father's personal Navy was so formidable, would be a huge step in dismantling the entire corrupt organization. He'd been gunning for them ever since he'd found out that Jude Heartfilia was giving money and weapons to an enemy nation trying to organize its military to attack Fiore.
His daughter, Lucy, was the commander of the Navy and in charge of all cargo export and protection. There was no way that she was blind to her father's corruption. She had to be in on it, which made her a traitor to her country, and someone that had to be eliminated.
Natsu glared at the entrance to the bay, just waiting for Lucy's ship, the Layla, to loom out ot the darkness at them. In this low visibility he couldn't afford to lose sight of her for even a second, or to fall too far behind, or she would slip out of his grasp again. Last time he'd sank one of her support vessels, and nearly took out the Layla too, but she'd escaped him, much to his displeasure.
"Erza," Natsu called. She appeared out of nowhere, and he addressed her. "Tonight the Layla will sail alone, unguarded, as a further attempt to outrun us."
"Are you positive, Natsu?"
"Yes," he said. "I can feel it in my bones." Erza nodded, trusting Natsu's sixth sense. It was something no one could explain, but that everyone believed in after the last few times Natsu had been so close to catching Lucy. Ha had an instinct about what she would be doing, and he had never been wrong yet.
Natsu squinted into the darkness, then leaned forward. He had excellent eyesight, and was often the first person to notice things. A shape loomed in the darkness, and Natsu squinted at it's hull, looking for the name. As it continued to move he began to recognize the outline, he'd seen it many times before. He called for his crew's attention.
"There! The Layla! We have to move now, we can't afford to lose her in this!" Just like that his crew was moving in double time, and the anchor was raised, and they had begun moving. They began moving slowly, too slowly. The Layla was mysteriously fast. Natsu had long since wondered if Lucy had an Amnis on her side. It certainly seemed so when she was speeding away from him at an unreasonable pace.
"Get the oars!" Natsu cried angrily, "We're losing her!"
The rowing team, the biggest men and women he hand with the most stamina rushed below decks and got ready. He heard the oars splash into the water a little after that and they began to pick up speed. They were gaining on the Layla now. He could now clearly make out the name painted on the back of the ship. It was an intense few minutes where Natsu was waiting on them to get within firing range.
"Fire at will!" Natsu cried, and a few moments later the first cannon fired, striking the water mere yards from the ship.
~*Vorticity*~
"He was there the whole time waiting on us!" Loke cried. Cannon fire sounded, and a canon splashed the water near their ship.
"What do we do?" Gajeel cried. "We ain't got canons on the back of the ship!"
"First off, remind me to tell father to make that happen!" Lucy shouted. Gajeel half laughed, but overall looked too concerned to crack a sarcastic joke back.
"Juvia, Aquarius, are you giving it all you've got?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at the two women who were holding hands and appeared to be in deep conversation.
"That's what you told us to do, isn't it?" Aquarius snapped.
"Wendy?" Lucy shouted. The girls head popped over the side of the crows nest and looked down at her.
"Yes?"
"What's your range? Can you fill their sails with wind facing the wrong way?"
"I can try!" Wendy cried. Her head disappeared, but was replaced by her hands, wrist down, extended towards the pirate ship. Lucy turned her head to see if it was having any effect. It didn't look like it, they must be out of Wendy's range.
"Wendy, just fill our sails instead!"
"Alright!"
"Lucy, we have to turn!" It was Levy, standing off to Lucy's left, looking panicked.
"What do you mean? That will give Dragneel all the opportunity he needs to sink us!"
"If we don't turn the rocks will do it for him! I didn't know you were taking us this way! We have to turn thirty degrees to the south or we won't make it!"
"Dammit!" Lucy shouted. "Aquarius, Juvia, direct us to the South!" Lucy spun her wheel. "Prepare for battle! I want all the canons armed, and all crew prepared in case of a boarding!"
"Yes ma'am!" Everyone hurried to comply with her orders. She heard the cannons shifting and being loaded as the ship slowly began to turn. More cannons sounded from their enemy ship, all three thankfully missing.
Lucy held her breath in anticipation, waiting, waiting, waiting for their ship to be turned far enough for their canons to be aimed at the pirate ship and…"FIRE!" Lucy screeched. All at once every cannon on port side went off. The sound was deafening, and light flashed and momentarily blinded her, but the distant sound of wood shattering told her that at least one had hit it's mark. A cheer went of from her crew.
"Reload!" She cried, right as a distant explosion let her know that their enemies had fired again. The ship rocked as the air filled with the sound splintering wood. There was a scream as Lyra lost her balance and fell overboard. "LYRA!" Lucy shrieked. She didn't have to tell anyone to throw a rope for her, already three people were moving to do so.
"FIRE!" The cannons went off again, flinging the projectiles at the Lisanna. More wood cracking. Those had made contact as well, but it was impossible to tell how much damage they had done. The Lisanna was still gaining on them, and for the first time Lucy saw why, they had put out their oars. He must have one hell of a paddling team.
The Lisanna fired back, and the boat rocked again, though no one fell overboard this time. Sagittarius was in the process of pulling Lyra over the railing. She appeared to be fine. "Sagittarius! Get your bow ready, start picking off people when they are in range! Wendy, you continue to put wind in our sails!" Sagittarius grabbed his bow from where he had dropped it when Lyra fell overboard and made his way to the bow of the boat. "Be careful not to fall off when cannons hit us! Lyra, are you alright!"
"I'm fine!" She said, once again taking up her position. Atta girl, Lucy thought proudly. Truly, she had the best crew in the seven seas, and she wouldn't swap them for anything.
"Lucy, they're gaining on us!" Jellal cried.
"I am aware of that Jellal!" Lucy replied. "FIRE AT WILL!" The cannons went off again, now going continuously. Just then thunder cracked, and the sky lit up, Lucy knew they had minutes until the rain started. The wind was picking up and howling in her ears. "Wendy, the clouds!" Wendy didn't respond. The constant noise of thunder, wood breaking, and cannons firing must be drowning out her voice. "Sagittarius, get Wendy's attention!" Lucy cried. Sagittarius turned and deftly fired an arrow into the wood of the crows nest, making Wendy jump and look down. Lucy pointed at the sky and hoped that Wendy would understand. She did.
Wendy turned her hands skyward and fell to her knees, focusing all her energy in blowing the clouds away. To her surprise, she could actually see them moving how she directed them, and had an idea. She directed her hands at their pursuing vessel, and slowly, ever so slowly, the clouds began to obey.
Wendy broke into a sweat, concentrating hard. She knew she was little and couldn't do much, and she wasn't allowed to participate in battles. That was why Lucy placed her in the crow's nest. It was defensible with arrows and Wendy was in the least amount of danger here, she couldn't compete in a physical battle of strength, but she was a pretty good shot. Wendy had contented herself to pay back Lucy for saving her by providing constant wind in the sails and medical attention when it was needed for the crew, but it didn't feel like enough. She needed to do more, and this is how she could help. She could try and direct the worst of this storm on the enemies and hope mother nature would do the rest.
Lucy Watched the sky in awe as first, the clouds began to disperse, but then they started to flow towards the Lisanna. "Wendy, you're amazing!" Lucy cried.
Thunder crashed again, and the sky flashed so bright it was briefly almost like the sun came out again. She could now see the outline of Natsu Dragneel at the wheel of the ship, barking orders and pointing.
"They're going to try to board our ship!" Jellal cried, "Everyone get ready for battle!"
"Cut as many of the ropes as you can, don't let them get on the ship!" Loke said.
"Don't let anyone up at the crows nest, Wendy is too busy to fight anyone off!" Lucy cried.
The Lisanna was nearing them, Lucy could now make out the face of the people on deck. They were all holding grappling hooks. The first of them hooked on the railing near Aquarius and Juvia. Lucy released the wheel momentarily to sever it. The ship careened in the strong wind, and every one stumbled.
Lucy staggered back to the wheel and put the ship back on course. She glanced around and was glad to see that no one had fallen overboard that time. She felt like apologizing but knew that she'd had no choice. Anyone who had boarded with that rope would have taken out the two women right next to them, and in their trance like state they were basically defenseless. She could hear Natsu shouting now, in between the canon fire.
She glared at him, every fiber of her being filled with a malice for him. How dare he attack her for no reason like this. Last time he had killed twelve of her men, good people who had had families. Her father was just a trader, what had he done to earn the ire of the Fairy Tail pirate Guild?
"Dragneel!" She called. His eyes snapped to her, and his face twisted in disgust as more of his people threw grappling hooks in preparation of boarding her ship. "YOU. ARE. MINE." He grinned like he thought that was hilarious. "I'm going to make you pay for killing my crew!"
He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by what is most possibly the most beautiful sound Lucy had ever heard. Siren song, she thought, Lyra!
Lucy whipped her head around to see Lyra above everyone's heads in the net to the crows nest, her mouth open wide, singing as loudly as she could. Lucy stood in awe of her as she clung to the rope facing outwards as the wind tore at her hair and dress whipping them around her body so that they writhed in time with her music. Her face was set in fierce determination, and Lucy could feel the rage and seduction in her words. This, she thought, is the true Lyra. She's not the ditsy girl she would have everyone think she is, she's a terrifying force of nature. She's a siren.
Her voice cut through the noise of the battle, carrying over the wind. The battle field stilled, the cannon fire stopped, Fairy Tail stopped moving. Even Dragneel was staring at Lyra blankly. Lucy wanted to cheer triumphantly, but she was too scared to break Lyra's spell. Lyra sang all the time, she used her powers as a half siren to relax the crew during times of stress, and comfort them during times of loss, but this was the first time Lucy had heard her using her voice to do what it was meant for, enchant people. For the first time Lucy understood the legends of men and women following sirens to their deaths. There was magic woven into the very words Lyra was speaking, and powerful magic.
It spoke to her skill that for the most part Lucy's crew was unaffected, which meant Lyra had a great deal of control over her voice, which made sense. Unlike Wendy, she had been raised by her mother's people, the Sirens, and had been taught by the best of the best. She had the skills to back up her considerable power. She cast Lucy a look that seemed to say do it now.
"Wendy, fill the sails! Juvia, Aquarius, push the Lisanna away from us!"
Lucy glanced back over at Natsu and saw him shaking his head like he was shaking off the spell, but she felt more magic crackle through the air and he fell under Lyra's spell again.
Lyra was exerting every atom of energy she had, focusing it all on the Fairy Tail crew, filling their minds with a pleasant haze. Stop what you are doing, relax, join me, everything is going to be alright. Drop that heavy thing you are holding and rest! Don't worry about the fight, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but my voice. Focus on my voice. Lyra poured every fiber of her being into her siren song. She'd always been strong, and she'd always had talent, but this was her first time wielding power like this. She had an entire crew at her command, she could make them do whatever she wanted as long as they were in earshot.
Wouldn't it be better, she thought, wouldn't our lives be much easier if they all...drowned in this storm? I could massacre this entire crew with a word, and then Lucy's troubles would sink beneath the waves with them. But no, another voice in her head said. That's not what Lucy would want. Lucy wouldn't want you to kill all those people for her, just because you can. No. That's not what this crew do.
Calm, she sang, in the tongue of her people. Stay calm. Relax. There's no reason to fight. As she sang the ships drifted apart. Wendy, Juvia, and Aquarius, her fellow merchildren were all working hard to get them away from the ship, so she continued to sing with everything that she was, keeping the crew of the ship under her control. As they started to pull away Lyra climbed down from the net onto the railing and walked along it, following the ship, her eyes never leaving it. She walked along the railing until she stood on the bow, watching the ship fall farther and farther behind, until they were far enough away the wind was enough to drown out her voice, and she could see the crew shaking themselves out of their reverie, but it was already too late. By the time that they had completely returned to their senses the Layla had already disappeared into the darkness.
~*Subsidence*~
Gray was the first to speak.
"Wh-what just happened?"
"It seems that they have a siren on their crew," Erza replied, shaking her head experimentally. "And a strong one."
"Dammit!" Natsu shouted. "This was supposed to be it!" He kicked a stray bucket so hard it crumpled, and swore loudly again.
"Calm down Natsu, there will be other opportunities, and we had no way of knowing or defending against a siren of that power."
"Now we've lost them!" Natsu shouted.
"Natsu!" Macao cried, hurrying up on deck, "We're taking on water! We have to find a port or a place to drop anchor to ride out this storm!" Natsu stilled, then turned to Macao, grinning.
"I know the perfect place to go."
"Where is that?" Laxus asked.
"Don't you think that Jude Heartfilia should be the one to protect us from the storm?"
"What?" The crew replied.
~*Typhoon*~
There was silence on deck as everyone stared at Lyra, standing on the ship's railing as the wind whipped her clothes and hair back and forth, her arms spread wide. No one spoke, no one moved. No one had seen the fierce siren that lurked within Lyra's body, the entire crew was in awe. Suddenly Lyra swayed, and began to fall backwards. Loke dashed forward and caught her before she could hit the deck.
"Lyra? Lyra! Can you hear me?"
"She must have expended all of her magical energy!" Lucy said, "take her below deck!" Loke nodded, gathered Lyra up in his arms, and hurried away with her.
Just then, a drop of water hit the deck, then another, and another. Then, the sky split open, and rain poured down on them. Thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and rain thundered down on deck.
"We need to get to the island as soon as possible!" Lucy cried.
The wind started picking up and bashing the ship every direction. The waves tossed them so violently it was difficult to remain standing. Aquarius and Juvia dropped to their knees, Wendy clung to her post for dear life, and Lucy was nearly thrown away from the wheel several times.
"Everyone hang in there!" Lucy screamed, her voice cracking, "We are almost there!" There was another good thirty minutes of fighting the waves, until they finally finally reached the island. Right when Lucy spied it through the wind and rain, Juvia collapsed behind her, and Aquarius was soon to follow. It didn't matter. All Lucy had to do was steer the ship into the hidden bay on the island and they would be protected from the worst of the storm and even if Fairy Tail sailed straight past here they wouldn't see the Layla.
"Someone fetch Wendy," Lucy said tiredly. Capricorn obliged, carrying the unconscious Wendy over his shoulder. "Drop anchor," she said when they'd reached the bay. Her tired crew obliged. "Now head to shore. There are some caves nearby, someone get Loki and Lyra, and Juvia and Aquarius."
Taurus picked up both Amnis women, and they all filled up the life boats, and headed to shore, where Lucy led them to the caves and they took shelter for the night.
~*Onshore Breeze*~
"See!" Natsu said, pointing at the island they were about to anchor at. "Jude Heartfilia owns this island, and no one lives on it. It's the perfect place to shelter from the storm and spite him at the same time!"
*A/N- Whew, I've had this fic inside of me for over a year, and I'm so excited to get it out of me! I so hope you like it, and tell me what you thought about it! The bold divider words are weather terms, by the way, since this series (yes series) is called "The Stormy Seas" I thought it would be cool to use weather terms as my dividers instead of just lots of x's like I normally do.