Chapter 9
Lucy rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the heel of her palm; her head screamed at the migraine that was writhing behind her sinuses. She attempted to crawl to the edge of the cot so she could get a drink of water; the movement was excruciating, and she wasn't able to stop herself from falling to the floor—along with many blankets on the cot. Lucy laid there for a moment, before finding the strength to use the storage chest next to her in an effort to stand up. Lucy reeled on her feet before finding the wall to lean against.
Damn, I really need to learn when to cut myself off. I guess it wasn't really a good idea to drink all afternoon.
Lucy kept cursing herself on her way over to the Captain's desk, where he always kept a canteen of water on hand. Finally, she made it over and sat down in his chair, looking for that elusive canteen. As Lucy was looking, she thought she heard her name being called. She stopped what she was doing and looked around the room; to her knowledge, there was no one there. It was then she noticed the door to the washroom in the corner.
There's light coming from the other side—someone is in there. It's probably Natsu…was he the one calling my name?
Lucy was about to call out to him, when she definitely heard her name being called again—but it was not coming from the wash room. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the window.
What the… I must be drunker than I thought.
Lucy tripped over herself on her way to the window, only to be caught by a strong pair of arms.
"NATSU!" She screamed, surprised as she swung her arms around and hit a man squarely on the face.
A pair of blue sunglasses scattered across the floor in front of her. It took a minute, but Lucy recognized them.
Oh no…
Lucy cringed as she turned to face the man who still had his arms wrapped around her. The golden haired man clutched her more tightly against his firm chest; he leaned in closer and she could feel his hot breath on her ear. At the same moment, the door to the washroom flew open with a loud bang.
"LUCY! Are you okay!?"
Lucy and the man behind her looked over to see Natsu in the doorway, soaking wet with a small towel wrapped around his waist, panting heavily, with steam coming off his body. His face changed from worry to rage when he saw the man standing behind her.
"Get your damn hands off of her!" Natsu shouted, as he closed the distance between him and the man in a single jump, and gave him a right hook to his jaw that sent him flying across the room.
Lucy cringed as the man's crumpled body slammed against the far wall. It took less than a second for Natsu to grab this man by his collar. Natsu reared his left arm ready to punch him again, when Lucy interrupted.
"Natsu, stop! It's okay, I know him!" Lucy shouted rubbing her temples.
Natsu continued to glare at the man as he slowly lowered him to the ground. Lucy blushed and averted her eyes from the towel-clad man trying to beat up the intruder.
"What are you doing here, Loke?" Lucy asked in pained voice, still trying not to make eye-contact with either of them.
Loke straightened the black suit he was wearing and dusted off his pants. He then stood and walked over to his sunglasses and picked them up, restoring them to their original position.
"You were in a compromising situation, so I took it upon myself to come save you. The next time you get plastered; try not to end up in a man's bed." He said, glaring at Natsu.
"Especially when that man is stark naked…" Loke added.
Natsu was standing before him, still holding onto his towel that covered his lower regions. Natsu smirked, and looked over at Lucy, who was doing her best to stare at the ground.
"Well like you said, these are my private quarters and I'm entitled to dress as I see fit, regardless of who I invite inside. Speaking of which, I don't recall inviting you in, Mr…?"
"Loke, my name is Loke. I'm really just here to make sure she's okay and then I'll be on my way, I promise."
Loke walked over to Lucy and embraced her tightly. Natsu observed this, standing in a puddle of water that was dripping off his body. Natsu grunted in disgust, while splashing water all the way back into his washroom.
"Lucy, I'm just worried about you," Loke said, stroking her hair. "You haven't called on any of us for a while; you were due for a check in."
Lucy smiled at her companion.
"Wait a second!" Natsu's voice came from the other side of the washroom door.
"That guy's one of your celestial spirits?"
Lucy rolled her eyes at his question, causing Loke to smile gently at her.
"Yes, he's my strongest spirit in fact; he is Leo, from the zodiac spirits."
Loke smiled with pride at the praise that his Princess was giving him.
"Well, Lucy, it seems that you're just fine. However, please don't let so much time pass before you call on me again. You know how much I miss you…" He whispered into her ear, pulling her closer to him. He held his position for a moment and Lucy started to move her arms to hold him back. She moved her arms to where his back should have been, but her arms moved through empty air. She opened her eyes, he was gone.
I guess Loke must have gone back to the spirit world.
Lucy sat back down on the cot, feeling kind of whimsical.
She smiled to herself.
Even though Loke was kind of odd, he always made her day. But more importantly, she was fairly sure that he was the only one who had always loved and looked out for her.
"I thought you didn't have any friends before you got here, Lucy." Natsu said, grumbling through a crack in the door, where he was peeking from.
Lucy raised an eyebrow at him and his behavior.
"I didn't have any human friends, but I did tell you I was a celestial wizard, right? I don't feel like I was hiding anything from you."
Natsu frowned.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. I just don't like men being so familiar with my guests in my own room."
Lucy smiled at him. Natsu opened the door; he had dressed himself while he was in the wash room… partially.
At least he had pants on.
"I didn't realize you had a bathtub in your wash room… at least, I didn't see one when I was in there." Lucy said, trying to change the subject.
Natsu looked at her with a knowing grin, while he took his seat next to her on the cot.
"I had Gajeel put one together for me; it pulls out of the wall. However, I'm the only one who can heat it up, so nobody except for me really uses it." He responded nonchalantly while drying his hair with a small towel.
Lucy cocked her head to the side staring at him, looking him up and down.
"But I don't get it, what do you mean you're the only one who can heat it up…? How do you get hot water on a ship?"
Natsu looked over to Lucy, straight on, and then he realized something.
She doesn't know what magic I use…
Natsu hunched over and laughed out loud, while Lucy just frowned at him.
"Sorry, Luce, I forgot I've never told you what kind of magic I use—I'm sorry." He said, with tears of laughter in his eyes.
Lucy puffed up her cheeks in displeasure.
"You could at least stop laughing at me, jerk."
Natsu's eyes widened as she spoke that last word and looked over at her.
"My my, Princess… that's not the kind of language a royal should use!" He said, still laughing at her.
Lucy punched him in the arm, her frustration and embarrassment showing in her cheeks.
"I said stop, Natsu!" she said, hiding her face with her other hand.
Natsu chuckled one more time before patting her back in comfort.
"Sorry, sorry. I took it too far; in exchange, I'll tell you what kind of magic I use."
Natsu's hand remained on her back and moved over to her shoulder slowly. He pulled her closer to him so that their legs were touching. Lucy looked at Natsu, his face seemed unfazed. It was as though this man had no self-awareness or shame. Nothing physical made him flush with embarrassment, things like physical contact or people changing clothes just didn't seem to matter.
I suppose he is the Captain of a ship… he must have his pick of women…
In the stories that her attendants told her, while she was still growing up, many captains were womanizers. They would tell her such stories to keep her inside and cautious of the sailors in Magnolia. Sure, there was probably some truth to it, especially considering the sailor mafia was pretty bad, and she was pretty sure that they dealt with human trafficking. But Natsu didn't seem the type of guy who would do that…
…Right?
A voice woke her up from her stupor.
"You okay, Lucy?"
"I…I'm sorry. Natsu. I guess I'm just still pretty tired and drunk… I think I need some sleep."
Natsu nodded slowly.
"I suppose I could tell you some other time if you want to slee—"
"—NO!" Lucy interrupted Natsu quickly, waving her hands in front of herself in protest.
Natsu leaned back from Lucy, shocked at her response.
"What I mean is… I'd like you to tell me what magic you use, and then I'd like to go to sleep, if you don't mind."
Natsu beamed with pleasure.
"Okay, sounds good. You see, Luce, I'm a fire dragon slayer. So my magic is entirely fire based, but it holds the characteristics of dragon fire."
Lucy stared, dumbfounded at him.
"I've only read about dragon slayer magic, I thought that it was a lost magic… that it doesn't exist anymore…"
Natsu's body shook as he laughed slightly.
"You'd be right, Lucy; it is a lost magic. The only way you'd be able to learn it now a days is to learn it directly from a dragon." Natsu said this with a smirk, and a sideways knowing glance.
Lucy sat there incapable of speaking, not sure how to react.
"I'm not the only one out there who knows dragon slayer magic either, hell; I'm not the only one on this ship who knows it."
Lucy's eyes grew wide with admiration and wonder as she looked at her Captain.
"Wendy and Gajeel are also dragon slayers, she's a sky dragon slayer and he's an iron dragon slayer. I know a few more, but that's a story for another time." He said, standing from the cot, walking over to his futon on the other side of the room. Natsu laced his fingers together and raised his arms above his head, and stretched his arms and back out.
Natsu inhaled sharply and then slowly released his breath; he turned to face her.
Lucy had to look away; she still wasn't used to half-naked men walking around.
A certain lack of modesty seems to be a fairly common occurrence in the Fairy Tail guild. It seems that my years of high society training won't just disappear in a short time…or maybe even at all.
"Hey, Luce."
Lucy raised an eyebrow.
He's been calling me that lately… I guess I don't mind, but nobody's ever called me anything other than Lucy.
"I should tell you, we'll only be delayed a couple days on the way to Tenrou Island. The ship is a lot heavier because of the ice, but thanks to Gray's expert craftsmanship, it shouldn't delay us as much as originally estimated."
Lucy grunted in acknowledgement.
"That's good then I guess…" She said, breathlessly.
Natsu started to lay out his futon that he kept folded up in the corner. Lucy watched him and started to clutch her chest. She was still freaked out from the attack on the ship by her family. Sure, hanging out with the girls today took her mind off of it, but now that night was here and things were growing silent…well, it made her uneasy.
Fear started to creep up into her heart again.
Lucy climbed under the covers, to hide the fact that she started to shake from Natsu.
"Lucy? You asleep already?" Natsu asked from his futon
Lucy covered her head with the blanket, signaling that she obviously didn't want to talk.
Natsu frowned at her reaction to his question.
He then climbed out of his futon, and slid it across the floor so that it was parallel with his cot, effectively making it so that he was sleeping right next to Lucy.
Lucy moved the covers from her face and rolled over so that she could see what was going on next to her cot. Natsu smiled when he saw her face, it had shock mixed with what looked like disgust.
"What are you doing, Natsu?" She asked, in a stern whisper.
Natsu didn't answer right away; instead he just climbed onto his futon and made himself comfortable. Lucy gave up trying to understand what he was doing, and pulled her pillow close and waited for sleep to carry her off—praying that she wouldn't have fear-induced nightmares.
Moments passed, and strangely, she started to feel more comforted. Every time she started to feel anxious, the sight of the captain's figure brought her a feeling of calm, like if he was there she'd be safe and taken care of.
"It's okay to be scared, Lucy." Natsu said, in a deep husky voice; he sounded like he was on the verge of sleep.
Lucy pried her eyes open, only to see the Captain looking at her with his. His pink hair was disheveled from lying on the ground; it caressed his forehead and ears and was still slightly damp from the bath.
Lucy frowned.
"Growing up in the palace, I was taught that royalty never shows fear, that it was a sign of weakness." She muttered.
"Lucy, fear is natural. It makes us human, but what makes us more is when we face our fears with conviction. If there's one thing I know about you Lucy, it's that you have conviction and courage. From the moment I met you, I knew you were strong. It takes guts to run away from an oppressive situation—and then steal a ship from a pirate crew."
Natsu grinned.
Lucy gave him a snarky huff and a smile.
"I don't know about that, Natsu. I feel like most of my courage, or whatever you call it, actually come from you."
Natsu shook his head.
"That's not true at all, Luce; you have more courage in your pinky than most people do in their whole body. For instance, what's the real reason you left the palace?"
Lucy looked at him for a moment and then closed her eyes.
What was the reason? I told Natsu and myself that the reason was to get away from my father…for my freedom… but was that really the reason?
Lucy finally found the real reason.
"The real reason I left…was to save my kingdom and my people."
Natsu smiled.
"See, there it is. That is your drive, your motivation. You, my Princess, shall transform yourself into a warrior. An unknown Princess to her people shall return to save them as their Warrior Princess."
A fire burned in Natsu's eyes.
Lucy stared at him for a moment before laughing.
"Yeah, okay! That's preposterous. There's no way I can do that. How would that even be possible?"
Natsu put his hands behind his head and laid on them.
"It's possible with friends, Lucy. We're not going to let you go out and do this on your own. I promise to be with you every step of the way, if you're okay with that?" He asked, gently.
"Wait… do you mean you want to be partners?"
"I mean, I want us to be a team. Going on jobs together and sticking it out together when danger presents itself—which of course means I'll be giving you private lessons in magic and in sword fighting."
Lucy shuffled around under her blanket and moved her arm so that her hand was sticking out from under the covers. She reached her hand out towards Natsu.
He smiled at her and pulled out his arm from under his head and took her hand in his.
"What no contract this time, Ms. Celestial Wizard?"
Natsu gave Lucy a sarcastic grin.
Lucy chuckled lightly.
"I don't think I need one this time, but I'd be happy to write one up for you—if that's what you want. Besides I think that this is the way pirates do things right? A simple hand shake?"
Natsu let her hand go and pulled his blanket up around his chest.
"In this crew? Yes. But most pirates just take what they want in general. However, as far as paper work goes, I think I'll leave that up to you. I don't do well with paperwork; it seems to bring me strings of bad luck whenever I get involved with it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy said, with a hint of resentment.
Natsu rolled over, facing away from Lucy and shrugged his shoulders.
"Only take offence if you have to, Luce."
Lucy grunted at him in displeasure, and rolled over in her cot.
"Good night, Captain…"
"Good night, Princess…"
