This is it. The finale chapter. It's about 4.825 words long and one of the longest chapters I've ever written. And it's the end! T.T Well, but still I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you have enjoyed this story.

Lucy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before she started to close the distance between her and the pub's entrance. Two steps and her hands reached the door. With another deep, long breath she pushed the doors up a bit and slid through, unnoticed because of the ruckus inside.

Everywhere Lucy turned, pirates were arguing with the guards or under themselves, they were battling or they were drinking, not caring about with the fight around them. A little amount of people also had formed a crowd in the middle of the room.

The guys among the crowd were sheering, screaming or murmuring and the whole thing shifted endlessly because someone always wanted to get to a better place, where he could see everything.

Lucy didn't know what the 'everything' was, but she had a clue and not finding her father or Makarov anywhere, as well as the guards trying to get to the core of the crowd, made her think that her clue might be right.

But not only guards tried to make their way through the pirates, Lucy could spot Mirajane desperately attempting to slip through them too. Lucy decided that it was the best to go to her first, because in this room the barmaid was like the only one, next to her father, who knew who she was.

Wait-not only her father but also his underlings knew how she looked like and Mira was surely not the only one who had known Layla, meaning, other pirates could recognize her as well.

So she would have to be careful. Lucy looked around once more. Extremely careful. The likelihood of not getting noticed with this many guards was really small and with pirates knowing her mom it turned smaller even more. And she didn't know how many knew the deceased woman. Almost every pirate in this room could've known her.

Lucy noticed that she simply couldn't get through the constant battling without someone noticing her and she had been already lucky that no one had recognized her already.

It seemed as if nothing else could be done.

With a sigh she grabbed her keys and held them ready, so if anyone would try to get the girl she could call out a spirit to protect her.

Lucy gathered her breath and whole courage, and then she screamed out loud:

"HEEEEEEEEEYYYYY!"

Natsu was presently messing around with Happy, when he noticed that something nagging on his stomach the first time. He paused a second to examine the feeling, deciding that he wasn't hungry and there wasn't a bullet-shot-hole gaping in his stomach either. So what was it?

"Natsu?" Happy chimed.

Natsu turned to his friend and ruffled his blue fur, shrugging it off.

"Natsu! Stop it! What is Charle going to think!" His blue feline whined.

Just then the before mentioned floated by and caught a glimpse of the blue cat, with just-out-of-the-bed-fur and an angry gleam in his eyes. She blushed before she huffed and floated further.

Happy cried out a "Charle! Wait! I have a fish for you!" and started to follow her, leaving his pink-haired companion alone.

Natsu looked after Happy disbelieving. Normally he was the most loyal buddy you could imagine (of course Natsu would say that of everyone of his crew) but Charle somehow got him to leave his best friend all alone in a second.

Was Charle more precious to the winged cat? Natsu huffed and sulked at the thought of this. Why would an exceed-girl be more precious to Happy than his best friend/foster parent?

Then he reminded how Happy once said to him that he was in love with her. Natsu, the dense guy as he was, asked what he meant with that. And Happy described how he cared for her, how his heart made a jump when Charle talked with him and how his tummy made somersaults when Charle would smile at him. How he feared that she might get hurt when they were attacked and how he felt happy with her around. How he always hoped she might accept his offered fish as a present and how he wanted her to notice him. How he dreamed of them being together when they grew old, living in a house out of fish, with a lake full of fish next to it and a fridge full of fish in the kitchen. Oh, and of course with little white-blue exceed-babies in the house running around and stuffing fish in them. Not too much, of course, so that something would be there for Happy too.

Natsu of course couldn't understand this at all. He cared for all of his nakama, his heart didn't jump because he was talking to a girl and the women in his crew steadily smiled at him and his stomach didn't do anything funny at all. He was afraid of everyone in his crew getting hurt and he was happy with his crew around too. Everyone noticed him and he didn't want anyone to accept fish from him.

And he sure as hell didn't want to live in a house out of fish, full with fish and a fish-lake next to it. Not with his nose.

Sitting there, he compared everyone he knew with the person Happy described. There wasn't anyone near it, except maybe Lisanna when he was younger. Then his mind stopped when he came to the beautiful blonde newcomer in his crew and he felt how his stomach turned warm and happiness overcame him.

Natsu froze. Lucy felt not the same as the others…so could it be that she might be the person Happy had talked of? Natsu wasn't sure. His stomach didn't do any somersaults. There was just the warmth and …there! The nagging feeling again! Was that a symptom of being in love too? Well, he could test it.

Natsu turned to the place Lucy had been at while they had talked -and he had made sure that he didn't owe her something-, expecting to see her staring out of the cave and lost in her mind again…but he faced an empty place.

Well, so she had started talking with a crewmember, he thought. He looked around, now hoping to find her yelling at Gajeel, sweetly talking with Erza or Wendy or debating over books with Levy.

But he couldn't find her. Slight panic rose in him and the nagging feeling turned harder. He sniffed the air, but he could only make out a faint smell of her at the place where she had sat.

Natsu rose and rushed over, smelling a path of her scent, leading out of the cave.

"Shit!" Now he knew what the nagging feeling was -he subconsciously noticed the absence of Lucy- and the panic started to grow, grabbing his heart with an ice-cold claw.

He turned around, almost tripping, and yelled "Guys!" Of course his crew didn't react, someone always screamed and they didn't think of something bad when they heard someone.

Natsu gathered his breath and blow of a fountain of fire, the flames just over the heads of the sitting crew members.

Once the fire was gone Gray jumped up, forming a magic circle in his fist.

"What the hell dragonbreath, I was just about to stand up! You wanna go?!" Natsu ignored him and yelled:

"Lucy's gone!" The others turned around and scanned the cave, not finding her.

"Of course, she'd be gone once we let her out of our eyes, she will sure as hell spill where we hide, the spoiled princess." Gajeel said, crossing his arms. This earned him a smack of Levy, who has grown a friend to Lucy.

No one else reacted to Gajeel's comment, although Natsu really wanted to rip his head off in this moment.

"Where does the scent lead to? We'll search and find her, she's a nakama!" Erza said while standing up, fist smashing in her other palm.

"Outside." Natsu replied. A rushed plan formed in his head. He pointed towards Gajeel and Wendy. "You and you will have each a group, and you'll track her down using your noses. I'll go on my own now. Levy and Erza will form the groups." And with that he rushed out of the cave, following the path of scent he sniffed out and ignored the complaints of the others.

Natsu rushed through the undergrowth, keeping his nose as close to the earth as possible without falling or crawling. He could make out her scent on fern she had brushed and boughs she had bended out of the way.

And with every step he thought that he might come too late, wherever she was and whatever she was doing. And with every exhale the cold claw around his heart tightened.

And when he was on the highest hill of Tortuga, on which she had stand on, and looked down towards the pub he couldn't help but wonder if Gajeel had been right.

And then he felt guilty and wrong. He smacked himself out of anger that he could even waste a thought about Lucy being a traitor. No, she couldn't be one, otherwise his heart wouldn't jump when she laughed or his stomach wouldn't feel funny when she talked so warmly to him. And the claw around his heart wouldn't exist and he wouldn't have been so happy he could scream when she joined-

Oh. Oh shit.

And with the realization that he actually had fallen for this girl he rushed down the mountain towards the pub where her scent was the strongest and freshest. And where he smelled the hard sting of her fear.

"HEEEEEYYYYYY!"

Lucy felt how her ears ringed because of her own yell.

A millisecond later she realized what she had done. Here she was, only with her keys, only able to summon on spirit at the time and she had turned the attention of a whole room full with armed pirates/guards on her and every single one wanted her. Shit.

But it was too late, she noticed how one pirate turned around to her and then stopped dead in his tracks, then another turned around and soon she had everyone looking at her, some disbelieving, some astonished and maaaaany with a creepy smile.

She could only imagine what happened in the heads of those guys-probably the picture of giving her to her father and getting a whole lot of money.

She noticed how Mira looked at her the most disbelieving stare of everyone and Makarov looked sad, which she could only see because the crowd around the two men in the middle formed an aisle.

But her full attention was on the man next to Makarov, who was her father, as she had thought.

"Lucy." He barely said it, but she could still hear it. He looked at her disdainfully. Out of the corner of her left eye she could make out a brawny figure clad in white and blue -the uniform of her father's guards- approaching to her, but the merchant simply flicked his wrist dismissively and the guard stopped.

In return her father took some steps to her.

"So you really formed an alliance with the pirates." He said.

Lucy glared at him.

"Yes, by now, I did. But not before you threw me out." She spat.

"My dear, I never threw you out. I merely gave you the chance to see how life could be outside our beloved home. But now, I think you had enough time to get a picture of this life and it seems as if you got on the wrong ways." Jude smiled, but in his eyes the disdain remained. Several pirates shifted and protested against his last words.

"Oh, is that so? As I remember you said 'exactly' when I asked you if you repudiate me. And guess what? I'm really grateful you did."

In his eyes sparked the anger.

"Lucy. I never would abandon you, you are my beloved wife's daughter, right? I care for you and I don't want you to become a filthy pirate."

"Maybe you don't remember it, but you and mama were pirates too."

"That was before we identified it as the wrong way and left to start new over."

"Oh no, you left because I was on the way."

"That was just a minor factor. But this is irrelevant; I want you to come home with me, now." Jude said, nearly growling.

"I don't think it is irrelevant. You hid it from me all the time and I always grew up while thinking pirates are creature full of corruption. And once again, I have to say that I'm grateful that you threw me out, so I could form my own, positive picture of pirates. But you're right, right now, in this moment, it's irrelevant." Lucy said.

Jude smiled smugly, and Lucy somehow wondered if he had understood her. Right now, it was irrelevant because she wanted to bargain for the freedom of her and her comrades, but why did he smile smugly then?

"Well then, I'm glad you came back to your senses. It seems you've learned an important lesson on this journey you did. You live in a different world than this scum. You're the Heartfilia daughter. The reason I'm here to take you back now, is because your husband has been decided. He is prince Sawalu of the Julenelle. I'm sure you remember him as he expressed interest you."

Lucy noticed how Mirajane had been right with her suggestion and her father really didn't understand her intentions. "Yeah…he did." She said, and was about to continue when her father interrupted her.

"By marrying into the Julenelles, the Heartfilia ships can be sold in the south too. This marriage has tremendous value to the future of our family and you must also give birth to a son, to continue our family name. Now, let's return to our mansion and get out of this filthy place."

Lucy swallowed. Her father had interrupted her before she could explain herself and now he was sure that she would come back under all circumstances. She had to correct him before this could turn into something even bigger. In the background she could barely hear how the door behind her opened but she didn't think about this because she was busy gathering her courage. Again.

"Father." She glared up to him. "Don't misunderstand me. I didn't come here because I intended to come back. I'm here to make myself clear. I'm finished with you. You threw me out and I finally stand on my own. I won't come back with you, because you have no right to decide who I marry or which ways I walk on are wrong or right. I'm going to be a pirate and I want you to leave the Fairy Tail-crew alone because I really don't want my father to be my enemy. But, be warned, because if you dare lay a hand on Fairy Tail, I won't hesitate to see you as my foe and fight against you with all my might."

Her father's eyes had grown big throughout her speech and the pirates as well as guards around her were thunderstruck by her speech.

But Jude came to him again fast. "Lucy, we're talking about the Fairy Tail crew. You are a Heartfilia. You mustn't join this crew." He said, eyes glinting.

Behind her someone rustled and she quickly asked herself if the someone behind her was a guard, ready to attack her but her mind was too preoccupied with her father to be on caution just now.

"I can do what I want. And you yourself said that I'm not a Heartfilia anymore." Lucy smiled.

"I made myself clear, now it's up to you." Jude grimaced at her.

"If you expect me to be merciful with those pirates, then you will have to wait forever."

Lucy's smile vanished.

"Too bad. Because I'm one of 'those pirates' too."

"Exactly." Jude now openly glared at her. "No mercy." And to his guards he shouted: "Kill her! Kill them all!"

Lucy froze. He couldn't. He wouldn't order his guards to kill her. And who was them?

But Lucy was torn out of her thoughts when a guard slashed his sword down on her and she barely missed it while she spun away. The blade's tip grazed her skin and she could fell how a tiny blood pearl gathered in the scratch.

She pulled out the Key of Taurus and yelled: "Open! Gate to the bull!"

Right then Taurus appeared and he didn't lose a word about her boobs before he threw himself in the battle. Lucy spun around hectically, looking out for other enemies or a whip-thing she could use as a weapon. Unfortunately she only had practice in this arm.

But instead of a whip she found another sword coming her way. Lucy dodged and threw a foot in the guard's groin. He clutched it and fell down groaning.

She always had had a good kick. But she still needed a weapon.

Lucy stepped on the guardian's wrist holding the sword and heard a satisfying crack as well as the cry of pain coming out of the guardian's mouth. Lucy snatched the sword and held it in her hands unskilled.

Oh man, she wouldn't make it out of here alive. This was an all-out war against her. And Taurus who was really doing his best throwing his ax around and slashing the guts of guardians open.

Lucy felt how a hand yanked at her hair. With a yelp she was pulled backwards and not even realizing what she was doing, she turned around, yanking the sword with her. Its blade tore open the stomach of the blue and white clad man holding her.

Lucy gasped as she realized that she had hurt a man seriously just now. Probably life-threatening.

But she didn't have enough time to feel guilty about it because she was busy blocking clumsily another sword coming from the right. And then the guy holding the sword was blown away -by a beam of flames.

Lucy gasped as she felt the heat on her skin and the handle of the sword getting hot. And then the flame was replaced by a pink-haired pirate captain. Natsu pulled her in a bone-crushing hug and Lucy felt how her fear was replaced by joy and relieve. With Natsu here, nothing could happen to her. And over his shoulder he could see how the rest of the crew was fighting too.

So they were 'them all'.

But she could also see a guard approaching behind Natsu's back and she yanked herself free, pushing Natsu away and shoving the blade of her stolen sword in the torso of the guard, using the surprise-effect.

He screamed and Lucy yanked her sword out again.

When she turned around Natsu was busy throwing flame fists again. Lucy smirked, knowing that she was lucky seeing the one and only fire dragon slayer in action. Lucy looked for another guard attacking her and sure enough, there were plenty of them. Even though she wasn't very skilled with the sword she could take them down by surprise and sometimes she just did a Lucy-Kick, knocking them out cold.

Then suddenly between all the blood and groans and magic around them, her father appeared in front of her. And he had a furious grimace on his face and a sword in his hand.

Before Lucy could do or say something her father threw himself towardsher, sword raised. Lucy could barely dodge the blade and block the next swing. His strength was overwhelming her and she had to back down the whole time.

Swish-clang-swish-clang

Her father steadily assailed her and she desperately and unskilled blocked, but the tip of his blade came further and further towards her throat. She took the next step back and stepped on a limb, nearly losing her balance. She quickly stepped back with the other foot, saving her balance, but another swift of Jude's sword caught her off guard and she yanked her sword up, which caused her to waver and then the force of the blow eventually made her fall over.

She laid on the floor, her sword several inches away because she had let it slip out of her hand to cushion her fall with the strength of her both arms. Jude kicked the sword further away, now definite out of her reach and stepped over her, his sword hovering against her throat. Luca glanced at it, eyes wide and panic overcame her, because her father really seemed to be serious and the slightest movement, the slightest slip on the blood-covered floor would cause the blade to tore open her neck.

"You're way too much like you mother. It hurts me to see you because I'm reminded of her every time." Her father growled and his eyes filled with tears. But Lucy only could think about the sword on her throat and that this were her last minutes and that she could never see Natsu again, never thank him for saving her, on the ship and in the forest.

"And your character too. You're so much like her. Did you know that Layla never wanted to leave Tortuga? That she died because of sorrow? Sorrow because she lost her home." Now Lucy focused on her father's words. What was he blabbering? There was a razor-sharp blade on her throat! And he blabbered?! But maybe she should be grateful because the blabbering let her live and maybe, just maybe someone would come to save her.

"We had to leave. Because of you. She died because of you." Lucy's eyes widened. That's why she hated her. He always had a grudge against her because he thought it was her fault that her mother died. That's why he was always so bitter. And her father was unforgiving. She started to shiver, fearing her life couldn't saved by anyone anymore.

"But, in the end it was your decision and you left. Lucy never decided to come on the world." Another voice said calming, behind her head. Lucy looked up as far as she could without bending her neck and getting her throat slit. There was Natsu, covered with bruises, burns, scratches and with flames in his eyes.

And Lucy could kiss him right now. He was there to save her. Just like she had hoped! But why didn't he do something? There was a sword against her throat goddamnit!

Jude looked up to Natsu.

"Dragneel. This is your fault too, you know? Lucy wouldn't have complaint if you hadn't influenced her! And now look around; your people get hurt because of you and this bitch!" Lucy gasped. Her father had pushed the blade further and now she had to hold her breath so she wouldn't get hurt. She felt how the blade tore her skin and a droplet of blood slit down her neck.

But he was still right, she registered. His crazy mind seemed to be still able to produce a few sane thoughts. People were hurt because of her!

"Lucy's our nakama. You of all people should understand the meaning of nakama in a crew. You're her enemy. And a nakama's enemy is everyone's enemy. Let her be who she wants to be. Layla wouldn't forgive you for what you are doing right now." Natsu reasoned, still paying caution that he wasn't angering the man.

Jude's eyes flickered with anger and longing and he pushed down the sword even more. Now a steady stream of blood ran down her neck. Lucy wheezed roughly.

"You don't know how Layla was!" he screamed. Lucy shivered violent. Her father was a maniac. And he was going to kill her. There wasn't a way to save her anymore.

"Lucy, close your eyes and hold your breath."Natsu's voice tuned cold.

Lucy did as she was told, not even wondering what Natsu was about to do and trusting him blindly.

And then she felt the heat again and heard the painful scream of her father. The sword was disappeared and the heat vanished, replaced by two strong arms wrapping around her, holding her up and rocking her like a mother would do to a agitated kid and a soothing voice rang out in her ears, whispering: "Everything's gonna be okay, everything's gonna be okay."

And then she blacked out.

~Two years later~

Lucy woke up by the sound of loud snoring in her ears. Groaning, she blindly kicked behind her and the snoring stopped before it settled on.

Two strong arms tightened around her. Lucy fiddled with the blanket and turned around tedious.

"Natsu~"she whispered in the ears of the pink-haired man cuddling with her. Nothing happened.

"Naaaatsuuuuu~" she whined. Same reaction as before.

"Natsu. Wake up or stop snoring," she demanded.

"NATSU!" she finally screamed.

Said boy groaned.

"Wha…" he said and then yawned.

"Natsu you're snoring. Again." Lucy huffed.

"Mmhhh..sowwy…" Natsu said drowsily before he tightened his grip around her and attempted to sleep again.

"And Erza will come in, in about two minutes to wake you up." She finished, not caring about it being the truth or not. But the phrase did its work.

Natsu jumped out of the bed and yanked on some trousers and his usual vest. Then he came back to the bed and placed a kiss on Lucy's forehead and her big belly. Her big baby-belly.

"I'll come down around noon." He whispered. "Later, Princess, lil' dragon." Lucy giggled. Yes he called her princess. Irony, irony.

The door banged behind Natsu and Lucy turned her head towards the mirror on the wall across from the bed. She examined how the blanket stretched over her stomach and how she laid in the bed of the famous pirate captain Natsu Dragneel. She scanned very detail and saved it, like she did every morning, scared by the thought that it might be the last one. They were living a dangerous life, although Natsu wouldn't let her outside since he knew that she was pregnant.

They were still on the ship of his and she was still in the crew. And she wouldn't leave this soon.

Well, Natsu wanted to find a place to settle down soon, because he thought that a ship wasn't the best place for an infant, but she would always be a part of this crew. Fortunately, he was fine with Tortuga so they wouldn't need to go too far away from their friends.

Levy, Erza and Gray demanded that they were allowed to stay on Tortuga and live next by their side, but Natsu didn't want to leave his ship in a stranger's or more importantly, unskilled hands.

And he knew that a large amount of the crew would come along then too, leaving the unskilled men on their own.

Levy and Erza seemed to finally accept that decision, and now they were fighting who would be godmother. And surprisingly, Levy didn't get frightened or would back down in front of Erza.

And Mira, who was a pretty good friend to her too, didn't even know about her pregnancy yet. And she would so want to be godmother as well.

And the godfather also wasn't decided yet, since Gray, Gajeel, Elfman and Loki argued here about it.

Lucy smiled at the thought of all her friends who supported her this much. After the big fight against her crazy-gone father and his underlings, she didn't have anyone and they helped her so much. The first months they even gave her their money and stuff so she could survive.

Well, she didn't need much anyways, because on the ship she could nearly get everything for free, except clothes and such.

With a little groan she thought back towards the humongous closet in her old manor. But that was a prize she was ready to pay and all the dresses wouldn't help her at all in this situation- she was pregnant and she was a pirate and the dresses would be all dirty and dusty by now.

After her father had succumbed to the superficial burns he got from Natsu saving her, no one ever had placed a foot on the estate.

She was sad, because her father had also died and before that he had gone insane and he didn't die a peaceful death, but she was also glad. She could live in peace and there wasn't a hovering sword over her anymore. And her dream had come true.

She had found her love, was pregnant by now and she could live a free life without any problems.

Except maybe the problems containing her recently absurd obsession with plum cakes. Or the problems containing a pink-haired idiot. Or the problems containing this crazy behavior of the crew.

Just then she heard some voices onboard.

"Gaahh! Natsu! Don't eat the plum cake! It's Lucy's!"

God, she really wanted to eat this plum cake.

The end. I hope you liked it and that you enjoyed the story. There will be no sequel or stuff like that. I'd like to thank all of you, all the people who reviewed and filled me with proud. You are the best! T.T I'm crying. Seriously.

Anyways, I'll still except some reviews although it's the end, so press that button down there.

I Love You All! ~Pink-Wand-Witch