BlackLynx17: Hello! Quicker update, as thanks for sticking with me when my life gets too busy. Sorry about the short chapter. I tried to make it longer, but what's about to happen next is like a three parter which I cannot break up so it would have made the chapter 10,000+ words and I'm not trying to read and edit through all of that because last chapter was 9,000 words and it was a real struggle for me and I know I had mistakes in it for sure. So please enjoy this calm before the storm.
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 Twenty-Five
South Blue
Wendy stares at a picture of her younger-self in the papers. She never realized that her cheeks looked so chubby before; is that why Mest liked to squeeze them so much? She reaches out her hands and gives them a squeeze. She never thought they were that big, maybe that was just her baby fat? Even though the picture was only a year old, she has grown a bit. Maybe not in tallness, but in size wise most definitely.
"Does this mean I can't go ashore?... Again?" Wendy asks.
Erza sighs and pats her head, "sorry Wendy. We really can't risk it though; we're already being chased because we're pirates, if the world found out we had you in custody then we'd be the number one target of not only the marines, but bounty hunters as well with a reward like that."
"It keeps on raising too the longer you're gone. Remember when we first saw her face in the papers? It was only 100,000 jewels back then, but now it's 100,000,000." Jellal says.
"Maybe we should turn the kid in? For 100,000,000 I think all of us would be set for life," Gajeel laughs.
He only teases though and rubs the top of Wendy's head to make sure she knows that. It makes her smile, but a sigh is still on her lips as she stares down at her picture. They've only recently started popping up a couple of months ago. Wendy thought it was so strange that they hadn't heard any news about her disappearance after she left with Mest, but Erza came to the conclusion that they didn't want the world to know that Fiore was missing their princess. It was sure to cause conflict, and everyone back at home must have thought she would have turned up sooner or later... but she never did and now certain parts of the world were looking for her. She's only seen herself in the papers a couple of times before at the previous places they've visited, but now it seems more and more.
"Who is that guy with the scowl on his face next to your picture Wendy?" Natsu asks.
Wendy frowns, knowing exactly who he was talking about. She folded the paper so she wouldn't have to see his face, but it seems Natsu saw it already. With a glare she unfolds it and reveals the picture of a man; they can't tell because the paper is in black and white, but he's dark-skinned with bright blueish purple hair. Even though she's only met him once, she'll never forget him.
"I was wondering about that too; it says he's mainly supporting the reward. Prince Acnologia... do you know him?" Jellal asks.
Wendy balls up the paper, "I don't want to talk about him."
No one misses this, especially Mest who had been quiet in the background as he reads his own paper. Judging from her reaction he has a theory on who this mystery prince is, and once he finishes reading the small column on Fiore's missing princess he sees that he's correct. Prince Acnologia was her ex-fiance. The one her parents were forcing her to marry. The one Wendy believed she would fall in love with at first sight. Mest glares as he stares at the picture; of course she wouldn't fall for him, he looked mean. His face was too sharp, too angry, and he looked even older than Mest! He looked like he didn't know how to cherish anything in life. He's glad he was able to rescue Wendy from this man. To think that once upon a time she was supposed to be with him, Mest growls and balls up his paper as well.
"Captain?" Erza asks.
"We should do what we came here to do and leave quickly. I'm sorry Wendy, we'll find a different place for you to stretch your legs at. Maybe in a couple months or so this will all be old news and out of everyone's minds." Mest says.
"Not if they keep reprinting it," Jellal mumbles.
"Let's hope they won't then," Mest glares at him.
"Fat chance, not like they're going to run out of money for advertisement," Gajeel snorts.
"You know we can always disguise Wendy. I have some dyes, we can completely change the color of her hair, or even shorten it a bit. No one would ever know," Olivia voices.
Mest is about to yell out never when someone beats him to it.
"Thanks Olivia, but I rather be stuck on the ship than change my hair. I don't mind it that much." Wendy says, running her fingers through her hair.
She knows how much Mest loves it. She didn't notice it before when she first joined, but it all made sense after she found out. Why he loved touching her ears so much, to brush her hair behind them. Why he would always kiss the top of her head, run his fingers through it, play with it, twirl it around his finger absentmindedly whenever they laid in bed together. He probably loves it more than she does, and she would never ruin it because of that.
"Mest is right, it won't be like this forever. Sooner or later bigger news is going to happen that will blow Wendy right out of the papers, sorry Wendy." Lucy says.
"Not a problem," Wendy smiles at her.
"We've mainly been seeing them in the Eastern Sea. Even though Fiore isn't anywhere near close to us, they still govern this sea. We should start heading outward toward the South Blue and stay there for a while. Sure that means leaving our home seas for a bit, but that's better than risking losing our doctor." Erza suggests.
"If everyone else is alright with that. I may be Captain, but we all have equal share governing our lives." Mest tells everyone. Although he wants nothing more than to protect Wendy, he would never do so by sacrificing his crew.
"Well duh, we'd never let anything happen to her. I say we head for the South Blue! Pull out all those old treasure maps we have there and start putting them to use!" Natsu cheers.
"It's going to be so cold out there, gives me an excuse to buy more clothes." Lisanna grins.
"I guess that settles that. Tell the rest of the crew and get their opinions, although I'm already sure everyone is going to agree. We're going to have to stock up a lot if we're going to be crossing those waters. A change of scenery will do us some good though; I've been getting tired of robbing these old towns," Erza grins.
Wendy smiles gently at everyone's encouragement. She'd never want to put her friend's lives in danger, and it seems that they all feel the same way as well. There is a small pain in her heart whenever she thinks about her parents, how she betrayed them, how much she hurt them... but this was her life. She needed to live it the way she wanted and being beside some man she doesn't love was no way to live it.
"Who was this Prince Jerkface anyways Wens?" Natsu asks, not letting the subject go.
Wendy's smile falls off and she frowns as she mumbles, "my fiance."
Natsu's face freezes and then he breaks out in laughter, "you were going to marry Mr. Stuck-Up Prince?!"
"More like forced."
"Thank goodness Mest saved you then; that guy looked like he had a stick farther up his ass than Gajeel's!" Natsu laughs louder.
Gajeel came over at that moment and tackled him on the ground. Wendy shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. She feels arms wrap around her and leans back into the warm chest, pressing her face up against it.
"You won't ever return back there," Mest whispers.
"I know, I'm not worried. I just feel bad for the crew."
"Don't, they barely care about anything. Where we go doesn't matter, as long as we're safe. We would all do anything to protect each other and that means you too Wendy. You won't ever be locked up or forced into doing anything ever again." Mest tells her.
And he means it, from the bottom of his heart. Wendy smiles and stands on her toes, giving him a small kiss against his chin.
"I know. I'm yours Mest, always and forever yours. I would never leave you or ever allow someone else to have me."
Mest's eyes soften and he leans down, stealing her lips.
"Ah! Too much! I'm blind! Take it downstairs you two!" Natsu yells covering his eyes.
Mest pulls away and glares, his hold on Wendy leaving as he stalks towards him. He was only teasing, but it seems he's made his captain really mad, and now he's running away.
"Get back here Natsu!" Mest yells chasing after him.
Wendy sighs and smiles to herself. This is her family. This is the family she's always wanted. She isn't going to let this go. Doesn't matter about her past, doesn't matter who she left behind or who she's hurt, because it is her life and if she's not happy with her life then she isn't living correctly. Wendy lets go of the balled up newspaper, watching it tumble away by the wind. She needs to let go and she has. She won't let anything keep her away from her happiness.
