this ain't a fairy tale
Characters: Lyon Vastia, Sherry Blendy and many more
Summary: But this was okay.
Chapter I
ain't no use in complaining
Characters: Sherry Blendy, Gajeel Redfox, Juvia Lockser, Levy McGarden, Gray Fullbuster, Jellal Fernandes
Summary: 'Cause we all got a job to do.
"Ya're the newbie, huh?"
Crown Princess Sherry of the noble house of Blendy nearly screamed. She had passed out when pirates had attacked her ship, maybe out of fear, maybe because of the tissue one of them – a ridiculously handsome if a little rugged man – had waved around in front of her. Now, she was facing a man twice her size and her weight. The stranger wore a ridiculously high amount of piercings and a blue bandana held back his spiky black hair. His clothes were dirty but of high quality, made for men who worked hard.
The princess herself was wearing a pink dress consisting of a wide skirt and a tight bodice with thousands of tiny pearls. Her hairdo had been destroyed as she had been kidnapped so her deep pink hair was cascading down her back. Yet Sherry was no damsel in distress. The leery pirate did not even know what was happening when she punched his jaw.
"Have you any idea who I am?" she snapped, holding her hand to her chest as she watched with a certain smugness that he had taken a step back.
"The crown princess of Cerasis," he said as he rolled his eyes. "The name is Gajeel, by the way. First mate under Captain Lyon but we're all sailing under the Ice Flower's flag."
The princess gasped. The pirates of the Ice Flower were notorious. They had, according to the rumours, stolen the treasure of the country of Crustallum, a country torn apart by a civil war as the empress-to-be had disappeared twenty years ago. On the other hand, among the pirates, the Ice Flower's men were reputed to be rather chivalrous – at least for pirate standards – so a young woman would always prefer to get kidnapped by them.
"So, Mister Gajeel," the princess started, keeping her composure because freaking out would not be wise and would not make it likely that she would ever reach her original destination. "Why did you and your crew attack my ship?"
"The Dame said so and once you met her, you'll know why no one is 'nough of a moron to mess with 'er," he said. "She got quite a mean temper."
The captain of the Ice Flower's pirates was indeed a woman? Sherry had heard the vague rumours, rumours about the ruthless captain who had started his or rather her organisation a few years ago. By now, the Ice Flower pirates dominated five of the seven seas and their fleet was rumoured to have at least twenty bigger and smaller ships.
The cabin's door was opened as a blue-haired woman entered, binoculars firmly grasped in her hand. She wore black pants, how scandalous, and a wide red vest over a simple white shirt. On her wrist, a bracelet that held the Ice Flower's symbol announced her loyalty. "Gajeel," she addressed the man, a faint hint of the rich people's accent lacing her voice. "Juvia saw the Excalibur. We will soon catch up with them."
"So we are close to the Rosengarten, aren't we?" the man asked, straightening himself. "Very well. I will report to the captain. I believe you look forward to rejoin your own crew?"
The woman nodded slowly. "Juvia has missed Captain Gray dearly," she said slowly. "Oh – Princess Sherry," she said with a short curtsey. "Juvia is the navigator of Captain Gray but Captain Lyon asked her to assist him and Gajeel during the manoeuvre which was necessary to get the Princess. Juvia will now get the Princess some food."
"A woman as a navigator?" Sherry inquired, feeling quite fascinated.
"Juvia is the best damn navigator on all of the seven seas," Gajeel said, pride in his voice. "You wouldn't have guessed it but not too long ago, she was some dainty little noblewoman who joined the Ice Flower because she had no where else to go. Now she is fought over on all of our ships because she is the best guarantee to reach the destination safely one can get."
The woman nodded slowly. "Juvia works usually on Excalibur," she said slowly. "But as Juvia's captain could do with Jellal's help this time, she changed ships. She does not like it all that much. The Excalibur is Juvia's home as much as Gajeel is Juvia's brother."
"By the way, Princess Dollface," Gajeel said as he crossed his arms. "We got your cousin as well. The exact reasons behind all of this will be disclosed by the Dame once we reach her ship. And goddamn, I hope that the Salamander finally sunk."
"What a nasty thing to say, Gajeel," Juvia scolded gently as she hit him upon the head with her binoculars. "But well, Princess Chelia is on board as well. Juvia has left her with Miss Levy so she will be more than fine."
"You got the shrimp to babysit?"
"Who are you calling a shrimp?" The newcomer was a woman who was indeed very short. Her vibrant blue hair was held back by a bandana and she wore an orange tunic and white pants with a blue belt wrapped around her waist, a belt which held a gun. Her cheeks were crimson and she pressed a book to her chest. So she was a scholar. Sherry had not expected someone who was studious on a pirate ship but generally, she had not expected any women.
"You, bookworm," the man deadpanned. "So did the other girl wake up too?"
"She did," the short woman replied. "And she is asking after the Princess. So I was checking whether she is awake as well. I do not know why Lyon insisted on the use of chloroform but…"
"Orders are orders, Miss Levy," Juvia said, her lips forming a smile. "Also, Gajeel, didn't you mean to report to the captain?"
"Oh yeah," he said. "Shrimp, Juvia – how about you help the princesses to get ready. You are better at that woman stuff than I am."
"Juvia knows," the navigator said, now frowning. "Gajeel ripped out lots of her hair when he tried braiding it while he was drunk. Miss Levy missed quite a show."
"How many times do I have to tell you that you should call me just Levy?" the shorter woman sighed before she mentioned towards the door. "Hurry up, Gajeel. I will go get Princess Chelia."
Juvia giggled as the duo left and tears of laughter ran down her face. "Gajeel and Levy, so predictable," she muttered under her breath. "Ah, Princess, shall Juvia brush your hair and put it back up? Juvia is sorry – neither Captain Lyon nor Gajeel were careful with her."
Meanwhile, on the Excalibur.
"Why did she send Lyon?"
Captain Gray Fullbuster, a tall man with black hair, turned around to face his replacement navigator, Jellal Fernandes. "Because my mother's ways are always complicated," he said with a shrug. "Also, it was time for Lyon to make himself useful again. He has been doing nothing lately, nothing but some minor reconnaissance jobs."
"You are bitter because you are stuck with me instead of with your lady love."
"And you want to go back to the Titania where Erza'd let you actually stay up late at night to do what you are best at, travelling by night," the captain replied. "But get this: the Lamia is catching up with us. We will reach our homeport soon and you'll be back with your captain."
"This navigator switching is getting on my nerves," the blue-haired man said as he rubbed the eye adored with a rather foreign tattoo. "Nothing against you, Gray, but there's a good reason why I prefer the Titania over your ship."
"The ship or the woman, Jellal?" the captain smirked before he turned his attention back at the sea. "We will reach the shelter in three hours. Until now, you will be by the steering wheel. I am quite sure that Macao and Romeo won't say something against some charming company. And I got tired off your Erza this, Erza that talk."
"As I am tired of your Juvia talk," the navigator said with a smirk. "Time for everyone to get back to their respective crew, huh? I am quite sure that she's missing you too."
Gray rolled his eyes as he listened to the footsteps that slowly faded away. Jellal was a weird person, rather secretive about his past. Well, many among them were. Gray's past was well-known because he was the leader's son – not by blood. But everyone knew that Gray had been a servant boy in Crustallum's royal palace and that the leader had taken him with her when she had arrived to steal the country's treasure. Lyon had been already there, back then, having been a cook-to-be on the ship the captain had stolen previously.
Not that Gray or Lyon had any advantages. They had earned their own ships the same way Laxus Dreyar had earned his Thor, the same way Erza Scarlet had gotten the command over her Titania. They had never been favoured by their mother. Yet the only person with even more influence than the brothers was the leader's daughter – a daughter by blood. Ultear was her mother's most priced treasure, not the gold she had stolen from Crustallum two decades ago.
Everyone knew this.
Everyone also knew that Ultear was sometimes rather bitter about her mother's decision to be a pirate instead of simply using her power on the seven seas to take over a country torn apart by a civil war, like for example Crustallum which was also the leader's homeland.
Gray groaned as he remembered his sister's fury when she had not been chosen to kidnap the Princess. Ultear would rage for at least another week. He sometimes really hated his family.