BlackLynx17: New chapter up! Pretty short, only 3,000 words. Hope you liiiiiiike.


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 Eight

Surprise Attack


She can't make out a single letter in the book on her lap. No, that's a lie. She can make out some of the letters, but not nearly enough to read the page. Wendy huffs a little as she closes her book and places it beside her. She pulls the cover back and gets out of bed, putting on her boots before reaching for her book again. She tries her best to be as quiet as possible as she sneaks pass her sleeping roommates, slowly closing the door behind her before she's home free. Out in the hallway she no longer has to be sneaky or silent and simply walks down the hall to her other room. Wendy sees a soft light flicking from underneath the door and smiles to herself; seems like she wasn't the only one who couldn't fall asleep. The door creaks as she peeks her head in, eyes scanning around and finding her target hunching over his desk.

Mest looks up at the noise and blinks, "again?"

Wendy pouts lightly and opens the door a little more to show him her book, "I'm at a really good place. Please?"

"Like I ever say no," Mest mumbles to himself as he hunches back over his desk.

Wendy grins and enters the room, closing the door behind her. She walks over to him and grabs one of the candles on his desk, pressing her lips against his temple as thanks. He ignores what she does; he's grown used to it these past weeks. He doesn't remember when she started doing it, maybe she learned it from him since he does it whenever he's overwhelmed with the urge to touch her, but he tries his best not to let her know what it does to him and swallows down the butterflies flapping around in his stomach.

Wendy climbs under the covers, placing the candle on the nightstand, and reopens her book to the page she left off at. For a few minutes the room is quiet as she reads and he writes down in his journal. She flips page after page, absorbing the information, turning her head side to side as she examines pictures.

"You did a good job patching up Jellal the other day."

"Thanks, I'm happy I'm finally over the urge of getting sick when I see blood."

Mest chuckles, "yeah, can't be a doctor if you get faint and pass out at the sight of blood."

"I wasn't expecting for there to be so much! That wound was so big for a sword cut! Natsu and Gajeel shouldn't have been fighting with him in the first place! And Mirajane shouldn't have made me do the sewing up either; it was my first time ever!"

Mest laughs even harder and Wendy can't help but stop pouting and smile from such a carefree sound. Okay, so it was a little bit funny. But she's better now, more experienced. She can easily see blood without getting queasy and sew up an open wound while only gagging a few times. That's a huge improvement from not being able to even stand the sight of blood.

"I'm just glad you found something you like that suits you. Although I admire your courage to try cooking again, I don't think I've ever seen so many people sick in my life."

"I'm ignoring you now Mest, good night." Wendy huffs shoving her nose in her book.

Mest smirks and finishes his teasing, doing the same as he goes back to work. An hour or so later his eyes are refusing to stay open any longer and he blows out his candle. He walks over to the bed and lifts the book from Wendy's fingers, tucking her in as she sleeps soundlessly. He blows out her candle next before going to retire in his little cot.

She's doing better at staying in her room with the other girls, but every so often whenever she wants to stay up reading or misses his company (for some strange reason despite the fact that they see each other every day) she finds her way to him and he finds his way to his tucked away cot in the corner of his room. He jumps in and lets it rock back and forth, kicking off his boots.

It's peaceful.

It's been peaceful for the past two months that she's been here. She's really grown into her part alongside the crew. She's no longer a princess, but a pirate as well. She still has things to learn about, but the two of them... have been great. Mest sighs out with a smile on his face, closing his eyes. The next time he opens them Erza is kicking open his door, eyes wide on alert with her sword in hand. Mest leans up and falls out of his cot, quickly putting on his boots and reaching for his sword.

"Captain we're under attack!" She screams.

"I'm coming!" Mest yells back, grabbing his scabbard and strapping it around his waist.

"Mest?" Wendy cries out.

Mest freezes and turns around, seeing her holding the blankets up to her chest as she stares with wide eyes. He has her now, he has someone he must protect now. Mest gulps and tries his best to smile and calm her. Erza is already out of the room, running back on the deck to fight their enemies. Mest keeps his eyes on Wendy as he tries to tell her calmly.

"Stay in the room no matter what happens Wendy. I'll come get you when everything is safe."

"We're under attack?" She asks.

To think he actually thought they wouldn't be attacked by a passing pirate's ship or the royal navy once he brought her aboard. Stupid. Plain stupidity.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you Wendy." Mest tells her before heading towards the door.

He spares her one more glance and smiles kindly before closing the door behind him. Once closed, his face turns cold and he reaches for his sword in one hand, his gun in the other. Time to show whoever thinks they can just climb aboard his ship whose captain.


Wendy covers her ears.

She can still hear the screams.

She squeezes them close.

She can still hear cannons firing off.

She closes her eyes tightly and tries to block everything out.

It works. It works. It works. The next time she puts her hands down, all is quiet. Wendy looks up and doesn't see anything out of the small window. She doesn't hear anything anymore. No voices, no cannons, no fires of gunshots.

Mest told her to stay here.

But what if someone is hurt? What has she been training for if she's not going to help her crew? Wendy moves the blankets and gets up, but her feet fall from under her and she lands on the ground. They're shaking; she's scared. She's never been part of an attack before. She's never seen her crew fight and kill. This is her first and she hasn't even seen it yet. Just stayed safely in the background protected, like always. Her friends could be hurt right now, they could be lying there bleeding, and there are only so many of them who know so little about how to patch wounds up. They needed her. With this new bound confidence Wendy gets up and goes to her dresser, pulling out a pair of pants and putting them on. She goes for the door and peeks out of it both ways before heading towards the medical room. Even though there's no one inside the room looks wrecked with books and bottles scattered on the ground; must have fallen over when the ship was hit and shook. Ignoring the mess, she grabs one of the bags filled with ointments and bandages before heading up on deck.

What she sees shocks her to her core.

Bodies everywhere. Fire lighting up the night sky. Blood decorating the wood as her friends cheer and gather around each other. Mest is standing tall with his sword to his side, blood dripping down it as he watches the enemy's ship burn. She can't tell if they're pirates or something else; she doesn't think it really matters. Mest turns around to check on his crew and freezes when he sees her standing there.

"Wendy," he gasps.

Wendy lowers her head shyly, knowing she should feel bad for disobeying, and holds up her bag hoping he'll be okay with it. Mest is clearly not and puts away his sword, stalking over to her and reaching for her arm.

"I told you stay to in the room!" He growls, blood sinking into her sleeves.

Whose blood she doesn't know, she just stares at it with wide eyes. Mest follows her gaze and flinches away, looking at his hands with distaste. He didn't want to taint her, he didn't want to ruin her innocence and cover her in blood.

"It got quiet and I thought our friends were hurt. I only want to help Mest," she says calmly, trying to sound normal as the blood sinks into the fabric and stains her nightgown.

"And what if it was quiet because we were all dead? Huh?" Mest asks.

Wendy looks him in the eyes and answers, "then I would have died too."

Mest frowns at her deeply, his whole face scowling.

"I could actually use a bit of patching up over here if you don't mind," Natsu calls out to her, waving his good arm in the air.

Wendy stares at Mest for permission though and waits until he gives her the nod of his head before she walks over, careful to avoid the bodies on the floor. There is blood pouring out of Natsu's left shoulder and she pulls down his shirt, hissing at the large gash she sees.

"What do you think Wens?" Natsu chuckles.

"I think this is going to hurt," she tells him.

She does what Elfman and Mirajane taught her, doing her best to clean and disinfect the wound before bandaging him up. It didn't look deep enough for stitches, thank goodness. She hears the rest of the crew begin to move, sees them dragging the bodies to throw overboard and murmur about the hell it was, but also the excitement of the battle. None of her friends had died. None of them would die from their injuries. Tonight the Fairy Tail Pirates were victorious and would live to see another day.

"Captain, we got one still breathing over here." Gajeel calls out.

The foe was pretending to be dead in hopes of a chance to get away, but as soon as he was grabbed by the arm the pain was too much for him to keep quiet. He hissed and cried out, Gajeel immediately releasing him and drawing his gun. Mest walks over and examines the man. He looks like he'll bleed out and die any second now.

"What do you want to do about him?"

Wendy finishes up patching Natsu and walks over slowly. The man has given up fighting. He's lying there so weak; he's lost all of his friends, his crew, his ship. He deserves mercy.

"Kill him." Mest answers without another thought.

"No!" Wendy screams running over.

She stands in front of Mest and glares, holding out her hands. "Look at him! He can't fight anymore, he can't fend for himself! Why would you kill him?"

"Because he just attacked my crew and tried to kill every single one of us Wendy!"

"And now he can't even lift up a finger! So we're just supposed to meet his violence with our own? You told me your were different pirates once! He can't hurt anyone! Let me help him and then you can throw him in the brig and ditch him at our next stop!"

Mest sighs out in frustration, "Wendy-" his eyes go wide and he reaches out for her, "WENDY!"

Seems the man wasn't so powerless as she claimed him to be. Wendy screeches as she's pulled back, the beaten down man grabbing her bag and yanking her towards him. Mest pulls out his sword and raises it, but it's too late. He has Wendy in a chock hold, arms poised around her neck.

"Make one more step and I'll break her neck!" He barks out.

The Fairy Tail Pirates freeze as their doctor is taken hostage right in front of them. Wendy is shaking as she turns around, seeing the man she tried to save about to kill her.

"Please, I'm trying to help you." She whispers.

"And I really appreciate that precious, but from the look of things nothing was really going your way and I don't want to die today."

"You will if you lay a single finger on her! Release her this instant!" Mest yells moving closer.

"Ah-ah-ah, do you want to see her lifeless body on the floor? Like I saw all my friends you've just slaughtered? Maybe I should kill her, as revenge. I'm as good as dead anyway, maybe I will-"

Wendy flinches as she hears a gunshot. Blood and pieces of flesh splatter on her face as she looks down, the man she tried to save, the man who tried to kill her, lying on the floor with his head in pieces. Laxus climbs over the railing soaking wet (he was pushed overboard earlier in the fight) and drops the gun he found back on the floor, staring Wendy down with an emotionless face before he looks away. Mest is by her side in an instant, cupping her face, wiping the blood away with his fingers as he checks her neck for any injuries.

"Laxus... good work." He sighs out.

"Let's just hurry up and clean up this mess. I hate the smell of rotten flesh," Laxus grunts.

Wendy blinks slowly as Mest stares into her eyes. He's moving his lips, but she can't hear the words he's saying. Someone died in front of her tonight. Someone died and she felt their warm blood splatter against her. Such is the life of a pirate; she should have known better from the stories she grew up hearing. A life is gone today and she watched it fade away right beside her. Mest is pulling her forward onto her feet. She doesn't feel herself standing. She doesn't feel anything at all. Mest is by her side; Erza is there too. She's handed off and is being led somewhere.

Blood drips down her face. It drips down her eyebrow. She feels it cover her body, feels it in her hair. This blood was someone's and now that someone is dead. Mest leaves her sight and Erza is there, helping her down, pulling her clothes off before cold water pours over her.

She tries to breathe.

"Erza?"

"Shh, let's get you cleaned up, alright Wendy?" Erza says softly.

She pours water over her hair, letting the blood wash out. She rubs a wet rag over her face, wiping off the blood that lingers. Wendy simply watches as the clear water in the bowl slowly turn a darker shade of red. Before she realizes it she's clean (according to Erza) and a towel is being wrapped around her.

"Wendy, are you okay?"

"He killed him." Wendy whispers.

"He was going to kill you Wendy, we didn't have a choice."

"All I wanted to do was help him, but he wanted to kill me. I was trying to save him, but he didn't let me."

"Wendy, he didn't deserve to be saved. He didn't deserve your kindness. Pirates are... terrible creatures of the sea. We don't deserve anyone's pity."

Wendy looks into Erza's eyes and frowns, "I just wanted to help."

Erza frown back, "you shouldn't have though and listened to Mest. He's our captain for a reason."

Mest. He tried to warn her, he tried to save her... and she just got captured. Wendy pulls the towel closer to her and suddenly feels very, very cold.

"I want to see Mest."

Erza nods her head and tells her to stay put before leaving. Wendy stares at the blood on the floor and watches it swirl and mix with the water. She's no longer dirty, but she can still feel it linger on her skin. The door to the refresher opens again and Erza walks back in, offering a pair of clothes.

"Mest said he'll meet you back in your room. He still has to... clean up. I'll walk you back, okay?"

Wendy nods her head and dresses, holding onto Erza's arm tightly as she follows her. She tucks her into the bed and smiles down at her sadly before patting her head and leaving. She thinks Wendy is weak. All of them must think that now. Wendy gulps down whatever feelings she's holding in. She's not going to cry, she's not going to show fear. This is a pirate's life. They get attacked, they fight each other, they kill, this is the life. She'll get used to it exactly like how she got used to living on this ship. One day at a time.

She lies under the covers with her eyes wide open, staring up at the ceiling. An eternity passes before the door to the room opens up again. Mest comes walking in, face and hands clean although blood still lingers on his clothes. He spares a glance at Wendy before he turns away and pulls his shirt off. Wendy isn't looking; she's still staring up at the ceiling. Mest changes before walking over towards the bed. He feels tired, overworked, and way too heavy in the heart. He could have lost her today. He could lose her everyday, but today seemed too real. She was right in front of him and yet he couldn't reach her. If only he would have reached her then...

Mest gulps as his arms reach out, pulling her into him as he lies down beside her. Wendy rolls around and rests her head on his chest, closing her eyes tightly.

"I'm sorry."

"Just please tell me you're alright."

"He didn't harm me," Wendy mumbles, "I'm fine. Are you?"

"Nothing but a couple of scratches, I'll be fine... Wendy, what were you thinking?"

She blinks into the darkness, "I guess I wasn't really."

"You could have been killed."

"I know."

"You shouldn't have shown sympathy, they were out there trying to slaughter us minutes before you showed up."

"I'm sorry."

"He could have killed you and then what would I have done? Wendy... I could have lost you. Just like that, in an instant. You could have been taken from me and I would have just been... broken."

"I'm sorry Mest, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, I'm sorry. I'll listen next time, I won't go out next time. Please, stop looking like this." Wendy whimpers.

Mest doesn't know what expression he has on his face right now. He doesn't know how much it's making Wendy's heart hurt because she was the one causing him this pain right now. She reaches out her hands and cuffs his face, eyes heavy and filled with sadness as she rubs his cheeks gently. Mest stares into her eyes and tries calming down. He leans forward and rest their foreheads together, closing his eyes.

"I just came to check on you. The others still need my help."

"Please Mest, please stay," Wendy whispers rubbing her head against his.

"We're going to have a lot to talk about when morning comes. Rest up."

"Mest."

Mest grabs her hands and pulls away, pressing gentle kisses against her palms as he gets up. The words of offering help are on her lips, but she swallows them down remembering her want to help others is what made him seem so broken. Mest walks out the door without another glance and Wendy curls up in a ball, finally letting her tears fall down freely.