BlackLynx17: Hello! Good day! I have some news for everyone. I keep trying to update this story regularly and everything, but it's not happening. It's really not. I love this ship, but I have no motivation at all to post this story up anymore and it sucks because I love this story and it's one of my favorites and I've worked so hard in writing it, but it's just not coming all together like I would like it to, so instead of dragging it out for another five years I'm just going to post up what I have written in the next couple of chapters. It won't be edited, it won't be broken into pieces, it'll have all my original notes and works and everything like that. It's going to be rough, it will be, but I don't want to leave this story as incompleted anymore. I'm so sorry. Hopefully one day I will come back to it because I have like dozens of other Mendy stories that I want to post on this site. Like so many reserved. Maybe once Mendy becomes a thing in the new Fairy Tail manga I will do just that, but until then... I'm so sorry for letting you down after waiting this long. You will know the ending though, I promise you that.

Title: Love At First Sight

Secret Title: Pirate Love

Summary: Wendy is a princess forced to be married at the age of 18. It wouldn't be a problem for her if she had fallen in love with her fiance, but alas fate is not too kind. Determined to runaway to chose her own love, she runs into a nice man who rescues her from her guards. Thinking this man is her one true love, she decides to escape with him. She had no idea that her true love was a no good pirate.

Chapter Fifty

King Noland

"King Noland, you've been summoned sir."

King Noland looks up from his throne and narrows his eyes, "and who would dare summon a King?"

The servant bows his head lowly, flinching at his voice, "I'm sorry sir, I truly am, but we didn't know what else we could do- she's a- well she's a-"

"A princess."

Noland looks up and sees a little girl walking into his throne room, head held high in defiance. He waves the servant away and looks her up and down. Though she had the elegance of a princess, she certainly didn't fit the image of one wearing all those rags.

"A princess you say? Sorry to inform you, but even a princess cannot summon a king," Noland states.

"A princess can if she's from a kingdom of higher status," Wendy says, kneeling down to show her respect.

Although she had no respect at all for the man who wanted to kill her husband and friends. She needed to stay strong, so she pulled out all the forgotten memories she hadn't needed and stood back up.

"I'm here King Noland either to make your kingdom a very wealthy land or a completely decimated one due to war."

Noland narrows his eyes sharply, "you dare declare war with my kingdom?! Speak your name! Who are you?! Choose your words wisely and you might lessen the punishments I already have planned for you."

"I will speak my name, and my business, and my intentions, and you must listen to me clearly and carefully my King or else things will go very badly for you." Wendy says.

She digs into her coat and pulls out her gun. The king guards are immediately on guard as the king himself cowers and jumps out of his chair. They all draw their swords and pull out their own guns, aiming it at the little princess. There's no need to though, Wendy shakes her head and points the gun towards her head.

"My name is Wendy Marvell, Princess of the kingdom Fiore! The missing princess that has not been found in the past two years! Congratulations my King Noland, for it seems you have found me!" Wendy grins at him sweetly.

With her intentions clear, Noland leaps back to his seat and stares at her, "are you mad?!"

"Yes, but I have your attention, don't I?"

"That is impossible, there is no missing princess of Fiore-" King Noland is silenced when his right hand man comes to his side and whispers in his ear.

"There actually is, my king, a princess baring the same name from the same kingdom. I admit, she looks a bit different, but she has grown from the pictures in the papers. I could bring them to you if you like, but Fiore's royal family is known for their descendants to have midnight blue hair like hers."

King Noland waves the man away and stares down at this so called lost princess, "alright then, you have my attention. Speak your business Princess okay."

Wendy gulps thickly, well here it goes.

"I'm offering you to return me back to my kingdom, taking sole credit and reaping all the riches it comes with. I will come with you quietly and won't put up a fight at all. You will be the heroes of all of Fiore, and your relationship with my kingdom will probably strengthen as well. All our resources would be yours."

"Interesting," Noland mumbles, rubbing at his chin, "I suppose you'll be wanting something from me in exchange."

"Yes, that's right. The six pirates you captured the other night at your banquet. I want them to be free and have a safe passage out of your kingdom."

"Ha!" Noland laughs and then falls over in his seat, "hahahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha!" He laughs his head off.

Wendy doesn't move a muscle, keeping her gun on her temple as she simply watches.

"You must be kidding me! A princess would never turn herself in to save pirates! You're a fake! And you're wasting my time! Guards! Get her!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you! If you refuse my offer then I will shoot myself in the head right here, right now! Word will come to Fiore that their princess has died in the kingdom of Lvneel and my kingdom will be coming here to rage war for their fallen princess!" Wendy screams out.

Noland raises up his hand sharply and all goes still in the room.

"Impossible," he says, "no one knows you're here."

"And you don't think that I informed certain people that I came? To make sure I had proof of my existence before coming to bargain with you? I'm not an idiot King Noland, although you must believe me to be. You can either make your lands very wealthy, or sentence your people to death. The choice is yours."

King Noland falls back into his seat and strokes his chin, pondering, "why? Why would you do such a thing? A princess as yourself, to bargain her life for pirates? I don't understand."

"You don't have to. What will it be?"

"I want to know."

"You don't listen very well, do you?"

"I have all the chips in my hand princess, you need me."

"Not anymore, you need me. I can make your life bliss or make it hell. It won't matter to me, because I'll be dead either way. The real question is if you're going to let your kingdom go to war over six little pirates?"

He would be an idiot to refuse. It was a good bargain. His lands were plentiful, but isolated, so far off from the Eastern Seas. This could be just what he needed to put his kingdom on the map. He would be a hero to Fiore, they would owe him a great debt. He could become richer, famous... or, if he refused, he could go into a war he could not afford right now and would probably ruin his legacy... she thought this out well... she may very well be a princess.

"I need to know why these pirates mean so much to you, and then you shall have my answer, and I promise you shall like it," King Noland states.

Wendy's eyes twitch, "I owe them... a great debt. They do not matter anymore after today though. I'm sure rumors spread quickly through these castle walls, and we wouldn't want my mother queen and father king to discover that it wasn't actually you who saved their little princess, but those pirates who made her turn herself in."

Noland pales at the thought, "you are quite right, the how doesn't matter, only the results. We have a deal. Guards, please escort Princess Wendy okay to a guest room, and prepare our ships for a voyage to Fiore. I want to personally escort our princess back to her kingdom."

"Ah- I'm not going anywhere with you until my fr- those pirates are freed!" Wendy bites her lips.

King Noland lowers his eyes and scowls at her.

"Fine."

It's dark. They can't see anything. His thoughts are on Wendy. His thoughts are always on Wendy. They tried so hard to escape the dungeons, but nothing worked. They waited for their friends to come and help them escape, but they never came. Now they were on their way to be executed. He couldn't die though, he just can't! Wendy is waiting there for him! He promised her that he would return to her, and he's going to do that! He's never broken a promise with her before, and he isn't going to start now!

"Jellal... I'm scared," Erza whispers.

"Don't worry Erz, we're going to be fine," Jellal comforts her.

"He's right, we've gotten out of worse situations than this Erza. We're going to be fine," Mest tells her.

"Yeah right, fucking hell we're going to die." Gajeel grunts.

Mest would glare and kick the shit out of him if he could only see. Why did they have to blindfold them to escort them to their deaths? Why couldn't they have let them see the sky one more time before they saw nothing ever again? The carriage ride suddenly comes to a halt and Mest grunts as bodies fall on him. He hears some yells, some screaming, and then the sound of something hacking away.

"Captain!"

His blindfold is pulled away and Mest is blinded by the light before he makes out a face, "Natsu!"

"We're here for you guys, come on!" Natsu cheers cutting their bindings off.

Mest reaches out for Erza next, and then Jellal, helping them all escape before he leaves himself. He walks out and sees the open road, no where near the kingdom at all. He sees the royal guards knocked out and being tied to a tree, Elfman glancing at him and smiling slightly, but it not really meeting his eyes.

"Come on, we need to escape from here. Quickly," Natsu says, untying their horses.

"How?" Mest begins, but Natsu shakes his head.

"There's no time to explain! We need to escape this kingdom quickly before they notice!"

That's enough for Mest. He grabs a horse and follows after everyone else towards the port. Their ship is all ready to sail off, and his crew are running on board. No one is following them though, or setting off any alarms. There are no royal guards at all which doesn't make sense. They were in the castle, guards came and they were supposed to be escorting them to the execution grounds... but why were they heading towards the outskirts of the kingdom? What sense did that make?"

"Erza!"

"Laxus!"

"Mest!"

"Jellal!"

"Gajeel!"

"Azlack!"

Warm embraces are met and the gang welcomes them all. Mest hugs his crew, eyes searching on deck for his wife. She was surely crying somewhere, there was going to be tears and snot on her face. He couldn't find her on deck though. Was she in their room? He had to get to her, he had to show her that he only had a couple of bruises on his face, but otherwise he was fine, and he needs to apologize and-

"Mest," Mirajane calls his name softly, reaching for his hand.

"It has to wait Mira, I need to go and-"

"Wendy's not here."

Mest feels his blood freeze, "what?"

The celebration ends as quickly as it began and the crew is quiet as Mirajane stares at him, tears in her eyes.

"She's not here Mest, she's left."

"What do you mean she's left? Where could she have gone? Is she still in that kingdom?! Because if she is then what the hell are we doing sailing away from it?!" Mest yells out.

Mirajane flinches and Freed is by her side, wrapping an arm around her as he glares, "listen to us before you start acting like a child."

"Fuck you Freed! Where is my wife?!"

"It was the only way," Mirajane sniffs.

"Your wife is the bravest fucking pirate I've ever had the pleasure of knowing Mest," Freed tells him.

"Freed, I don't care about any of that shit. Please, please, tell me. Where is Wendy?"

Freed lowers his eyes, "she bargained her life for yours. She's returning to Fiore so we can sail freely once more."

Mest feels his feet fall under him and he falls to the ground. Erza covers her mouth and screams out loudly, shaking her head over and over again. Jellal and Laxus flinch roughly, Gajeel tightening his firsts as he stares down on the ground, Azlack hugging Bisca tightly to him as he closes his eyes.

"We couldn't come up with a good enough plan, there wasn't enough time. We didn't have enough power to break in, and to try and save you guys during the execution would have been suicide. She volunteered herself Mest, she wanted to save you."

"AND YOU LET HER DO IT?!" Mest roars out.

Freed doesn't back down, "we didn't have a choice!"

"Of course you had a choice! You should have let me die! She can't return there Freed! She has to be safe! She has to be free! And you just sentenced her to her death!"

"They aren't going to kill the princess of Fiore! Wendy is going to be fine! She's expecting us to go and rescue her-"

"You don't fucking know that! We should be rescuing her now! Turn this ship back around! Move, turn it back around! We need to save her now!"

"And how will we do that Mest?"

"I don't know, and I don't care! But we're going to do that!"

"You'll kill us all Mest?!"

"Fine! Fuck all of you guys! You sacrificed my wife, I'll go save her on my own! Move it!"

Lucy runs up and wraps her arms around Mest's waist, pressing her face against his chest.

"Please, please don't Mest," she cries, "we didn't want this, none of us wanted this, Wendy herself didn't want this. She wanted you, she wanted to be with you, but we were going to die. She was going to lose her friends, there was no way we could have gotten away freely without her help. She sacrificed herself so she could see all her friends safe Mest, so she could guarantee you would stay alive. If you go, you'll be walking all over her wishes. You'll be putting everything she did to vain Mest. You can't go, you can't do it."

Mest gasps, staggering in his steps and clenching his hands together, "I can't leave her-"

"We're going to rescue her," Lucy sniffs, looking up at him, "we made a plan, Wendy told us everything. We're going to come for her. She isn't going to stay in Fiore for long. Once she returns, once things settle down, we're going to get our princess back. We already know how Mest, we just need to wait. We just need to... suffer without her, until it's time."

"I don't want to suffer though, I don't want her to suffer! Do you have any idea what her life was like back in the castle?! Do any of you?! It was like being in a prison! Not being able to make her own decisions, not being heard, being discarded and treated like cattle! Being forced to marry someone you don't love! They're going to force her into that Lucy! They're going to force her and you just want me to-"

"Wendy is stronger than you think!" Lucy snaps, glaring at him now through her tears, "stop doubting her! She knew what she was doing and we all didn't believe in her, but look! You're back! Erza's back! Everyone's back! And we're free! No one is chasing after us! We are all free and alive to fight another day! She did that and no one else! So if she did this, then she can surely return to us! We just need to believe in her! We just need to trust her!"

"Mest, we're going to stop you. Wendy told us all clearly on what you might do and we're going to take care of you. We're not going to let you kill yourself before she returns to you." Elfman says, stepping forward.

Mest shakes his head and pushes Lucy off of him, taking a step back.

"I can't, I can't-"

Wendy is getting farther and farther away from him. He can't stay here, he needs to save her. She was stupid to do such a thing. She should have let him die... but he never would have allowed her to die if the situation were revered. He isn't, he needs to go after her. It's not about not believing, it's about promises, and keeping her safe.

"I won't, she can't-"

If she goes back home he'll never see her again. She'll never be the same. Her parents will lock her under key and the whole kingdom will be on guard watching her. That stupid fiance of hers will be back and she will be forced to marry her. No, she's his wife. She can't do that! He won't let that happen, he can't!

"Wendy-" Mest grunts out and turns around, stalking towards the doors.

He runs straight towards his quarters, ignoring his name being called after him, and slams his doors shut right behind him. He can't let her go, he can't. He grabs whatever he needs, clothes, weapons, jewels, money, he will do whatever it takes to get her back. He will save her, die trying, and everything will be right again.

"I can't lose you Wendy!" Mest screams out, throwing everything on the floor.

He catches his breath, breathing roughly in and out, and looks around the room. Was she here when she heard the news? Waiting for him in bed? Did she cry when she found out? Screaming her lungs out in grief? How much pain did she go through before coming up with her idiotic plan? How much hurt did she experience thinking this was the only way to save him? How much did she curse him for putting her through this situation?

Mest slowly walks towards the bed and stares at her pillow, expecting to see tear stains. What he doesn't expect to see is a envelope... with his name on it. Mest picks it up and turns it over, opening it and finding a letter addressed to him from her. She must have wrote it to curse him out, he doesn't want to read her final good byes. He'll read it after he rescues her... his butt slowly falls down though and he collapses on the bed, staring up at the letter.

Dear Mest,

I'm sorry. I'm not strong like you. I'm not strong enough to let you die while I do nothing. I'm not strong enough to accept that our friends might die trying to rescue you. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to accept this cruel world we live in. You told me to expect the life of a pirate, and I did, and I embraced that, and I lived in fear that one day we might not be so lucky, and we have. We lost good friends and I wasn't going to let that happen again. I know this isn't what you wanted, everyone in the crew knew that you wouldn't want me doing this, and they all stopped me, but you know how stubborn I can be. Please forgive them Mest, please allow them to take care of you while I'm away.

I didn't mean for any of this to happen and I don't blame you one bit. I'm happy you were captured alive and not killed immediately; I know you sacrificed yourself the moment you realized you weren't going to get away. Thank you for being strong enough to do that. We tried to come up with a plan, but they were all failures. We figured we could try and bargain for your lives, but who would bargain with pirates? And that's when I realized that we had the best bargaining chip in the world... me. I know nothing of the kingdom of the Lvneel, but I do know kings and queens, and what they want most is power, and wealth, for their kingdom to thrive. I know they'll take my bargain, I know they will set you free. I know you are free and I'm happy. Tears are falling down my eyes right now. You're free Mest, you're alive. I get to see you again, and hold you in my arms, and kiss you senselessly, and live the rest of my life with you once more. You almost took that from me, but I got it back, and I don't regret it one bit.

I'm going back to Fiore. I must in order for you to live. We made a plan though for my return, Mirajane wouldn't left me escape without knowing for sure they could get me back, so listen to them Mest and trust in your crew. We all know what we're doing, especially me. I know you're scared, and I know you're lonely, and I'm sorry I'm not there to welcome you home. I'm sorry you have to live without me by your side for a while, but remember that I'm the same. I took myself from you and that's the cruelest thing I could ever do. I swore I would never do such a thing... I can only pray that you can forgive me.

It's going to take time. The world is going to rejoice for the return of their lost princess. Parties are going to happen, events, letters, the news, my parents are going to celebrate with all their might and keep me under lock and key tightly. You have to wait for your moment because it will arrive. I shall be waiting patiently for my moment to happen, as shall you. Everyone will forgot about my return and that is when you will have me in your arms again... sorry to say not a moment before.

I need you to do this for me Mest. You're so strong, so I know you can overcome this. Please, don't rescue me. Don't come after me until the moment is right. Take care of the crew, take care of each other because you will need someone else until I return Mest. You will need someone to watch over you so you don't hurt yourself. Take care of yourself and take care of my heart because I have left it with you. I wish we could have parted in different ways, but I don't wish anything else because I'm happy Mest. Truly happy to have met you. Truly grateful for everything you've done, and our friends, for me. Truly blessed that I'm able to repay all the happiness Fairy Tail has given me by rescuing everyone.

I'm not strong though, so of course I'm going to cry. I'm crying right now writing this letter. I'm going to curse the world, I'm going to wish you were here, I'm going to cry and scream and rant and rage about my horrible fate, but I'm going to keep living because I have so much to live for. We have...

I will see you again. I love you too much to live a life without you, so be prepared. I'm going to want hugs and kisses. I'm going to allow you to spoil me rotten, giving me whatever I want, wear whatever you want, accept any jewelry you so strongly try to push on me because I'm going to take nothing for granted. Never again.

So please... wait. You waited 23 years to have me Mest, just wait a couple more months to have me again. Don't do anything rash, take care of yourself, don't let my sacrifice go to waste. I won't sleep at night if I discover you've been captured again trying to save me. Let me go from your loving arms for a minute, I will return, I have nothing that's keeping me from returning, so please Mest, please... I don't know how much a pen and paper can do, but I'm hoping it'll help.

I love you. I'll see you soon... and I have a surprise for you when we meet again, so be prepared and excited for it. Hopefully it'll make you forget about the days we're apart. And please know I'm not alone. I will always have you in my heart, and our little bundle of love.

Forever yours, Wendy Gryder

She lied to him in the letter. She is strong. Strong enough to do this, strong enough to... he's the weak one. Mest drops his hand, letting the letter slip from his fingers, tears filling his eyes. He has to let her go, he has to wait. How couldn't he after reading her request like that? It doesn't mean he has to like it though... but he has to believe in her. Mest lets out a shaky sigh and covers his eyes.

"I'll wait for you forever Wendy to have you in my arms again. You're my wife, my princess. No one else."

She's stronger than she ever believed herself to be.