Hey guys! This day 2 for Nalu week 2. And I might be late... sorry.

But here you go!

~I do NOT own Fairy Tail~

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~Gratitude~

There was a small cottage that sat up on top of a small hill. A beautiful young lady was sweeping in her kitchen. She had golden-blonde hair and soft brown eyes. She was skinny, but that was due to the lack of food. You see, she was the beautiful Heartfillia heiress. But she was abused by her father and was banished to a small cottage. Though, Lucy Heartfillia still kept a smile on her face. Even though now, she was treated like an outsider, and a nobody.

Lucy put the broom down and dusted her hands off on her worn white apron. She then picked up an old grey piece of cloth and used it as a headband. She went outside her cottage and walked towards a gate where she kept some animals. A couple chickens, a horse, a dog, some mice, one cow, and if she put food and milk out, a cat would come by occasionally. Lucy picked up some corn and started throwing it onto the ground for the chickens to eat. She then heard some heavy footsteps falling on the path leading to her house. She turned around and saw the figure of her personal guard Loki running towards her. She quickly wiped her hands and exited her mini-farm.

"Hello Loki." She greeted. Loki put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Good day, Miss Heartfillia." He said. Lucy's smile dropped a little.

"My good sir, how many more times must I ask you to call me Lucy."

"At least once more Miss Heartfillia, as always." She smiled at her friend. She knew him ever since she was small. He was like an older brother to her and vice-versa with him.

"May I ask why you've come? It can't be a message from my dear father. Unless he wants to 'speak' to me again." She used her fingers to show quotation marks on the word 'speak.' She means that when ever her father called her into the estate, it was usually for him to get his anger out for something she didn't do, by beating her. She still had a mark on her arm when he manhandled her.

"No, Miss Heartfillia." His face became grim. "Even if your father did call for you, I would try and talk him out of it. But no that's not why I am here. I'm just here to give you a little warning." He sighed. "A pirate is in town. It's said that he has salmon-colored hair, and he was last seen trying to impersonate a judge."

"Oh, which one?"

"No one knows yet. Just, make sure no one suspicious comes here. If someone does, lock yourself in a room and ring that bell I got for ya." He said. He then bowed and started to jog back to the estate. She went back into her cottage and locked the door. She went back to her kitchen and opened the window above her sink. She had a pretty nice view from the3 top of the hill. She could see all of the other cottages that have been squished together and the church house in the distance with its tall bell tower ringing the hour. She picked up a plate and a cloth as she counted the rings.

'Three, four, five...Ok, so it's about 5 O'clock.' She thought to herself. Then she continued doing the dishes. About five minutes later, a loud knock was heard on her door. She put down the dishes and walked towards the door. But not before stopping in front of a dusty, cracked mirror to fix her appearance. She dusted off her apron and fluffed up her light blue skirt that lay underneath. Then she straightened her purple blouse. And finally, she pulled her fingers through her hair. Lucy then reached for the door knob.

'Funny, I didn't hear anyone coming up the path.' She then opened the door to reveal a tall and handsome man with blue hair and a red tattoo on his left eye. He grinned at her and leaned against the door frame.

"Yo. I'm looking for a place to stay." He said. Lucy could see that his canines were pointed.

"I'm sorry, I don't have an extra room..." She tried to shut the door on him, but he put his foot in the door.

"Really? A pretty lady like you living by yourself? That's hard to believe." He smirked at her. Lucy struggled to keep the door shut, but realized she couldn't. She sighed and looked at the man through the large gap in the door. She squished her eyebrows together in thought.

"Don't I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar." She asked. The man's grinned faltered but it was quickly replaced with another one.

"I'm Judge Jellal." He said. Lucy's eyes widened.

"The Jellal?" 'Wait, how do I know he's actually the Judge?' She struggled to close the door.

"How do I know you're not that pirate?" He put his hand on the door and pried it open.

"You don't." He smirked. "But you should trust me." He said, looking into her eyes. Lucy couldn't hold the stare and glanced down. She sighed.

"Fine, but you have to explain."

"As you wish he said."

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The man took off his blue and golden coat and put it on the coat hanger by the door. Lucy looked down at the bottom of the coat and saw it caked in mud. She grimaced as she realized the man was making tracks in her house. He finally at down on her worn couch and kicked off his shoes. Lucy sighed and got her mop. She started to get to work on the mud tracks. She glanced at the man, who had now leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. She heard a soft snore escaped his lips and she rolled her eyes. He wore a black loose-fitting shirt, with one sleeve rolled up to his shoulder, and the other was down all the way. He wore baggy green pants and brown boots. He has a brown brown sash tied around his waist and a belt went across his body. In the belt, a gun was holstered. And he had a sword sheathed around his waist. She raised her eyebrow, but decided not to wake him.

She moved a little closer to him to get the footprints closer to the couch. She heard a creaking noise come from the couch. Before she could turn, the man had come up behind her and put his hand on her head. She looked up at him and stared into his dark, brown eyes. She wondered on how a shade of brown could be that dark, and not be black.

"How could I ever show my gratitude to you?" He asked. Lucy said nothing. The man chuckled and reached into a bag that was tied around his waist. He took out a necklace. It was the biggest, bluest diamond Lucy has ever seen. It was tied to a brown, leather cord.

'I recognize this necklace.' She says to herself.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, pulling away from him. He chuckled again.

"What? Do you know this?"

"Yes. It comes from a place only pirates know about." The man combed a hand through his hair and sighed. Lucy's widened. She recognizes this man. At the ends of his blue hair, there was pink.

"Do you know who I am?" He asks her.

"No!" She says quickly, holding back that she did know he was the pirate that was causing all the havoc in Port Royal.

"Good."

"Here, you don't need to give me anything. Why don't I draw you a bath?" She said while leading him to another room. She took the tub out and tried to start the fire in the fire place. The man began taking off his effects. After a minute of nothing, the man put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let me try." He said. Lucy shrugged and went outside to the well. She expertly drew water and carried it back to the cottage. She came back to a roaring fire, and the man covered in soot and cinders. He gave her a sheepish grin.

"I'm kind of a pyro." He said. Lucy proceeded with putting the water into the cauldron to heat it up.

"Well, I'll leave you to it." She said.

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After about 20 minutes, Lucy walked back into the bathing room. She had put up a curtain to giver her guest privacy. She needed to do laundry.

"Hey, I never got your name." He said to her.

"My name is Lucy." She said calmly,, folding another skirt.

"What, no last name?" He asked. Lucy hesitated.

"Let's just leave it at Lucy."

"Alright Luce!" The man said happily. Lucy eyes widened. Only one person had ever called her by that.

Natsu...

She looked at the promise ring her childhood friend had given her. He was the only one who knew about what her father did to her. (Besides Loki) He had left when they were eight, to go on an adventure. He had promised her to rescue her. He also gave her a ring to symbolize his promise. Natsu had always said he was going to get a beautiful diamond for Lucy. That was 10 years ago. And now Lucy believes he is in her house.

Lucy moved around the curtain, and the man jumped up. Moving one hand to grab a towel to cover himself, and the other moved to cover up his left eye.

"What the hell, Luce!?" He asked. She said nothing as she moved closer.

"W-what cha' doing?" He asked, leaning back in the tub as she neared. Her eyes filled with hopeful tears as she kneeled down to his level. She moved her hands to his hand covering his eye. She smiled at him.

"Silly. You should know that Judge Jellal's tattoo is on the right side of his face." She said, removing his hand revealing the red make-up running down his face. Lucy's tears started to slide down her face as she hugged her old child-hood friend.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" He said. "And why are you hugging me?" She pulled away and flicked him in the forehead.

"'Cause idiot." She grabbed what was left in the cauldron and dumped it on his head. The blue dye slowly dripped off his hair, revealing pink hair. "You're Natsu." He finally got it.

"Duh!" He yelled and hopped out of the tub. Realizing his towel fell, the duo blushed and he pushed her through the curtain. He got dressed. She followed him to the living room. He got on his jacket and held out a hand to her.

"You ready Luce?" He said. She smiled.

"Let's go."

Natsu opened the door, and they ran off into the night.

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They successfully made it out of town and Lucy was safely aboard Natsu's ship; Fairy Tail. Lucy had also managed to send a letter to Loki telling him about the situation.

Lucy stood at the front of the ship, letting the cool sea air blow on her face. Natsu came up behind her.

"I told ya I would come back for you." He said. Lucy took out her sword and pointed it at him.

"I know. And just to let you know, I've been practicing." She said with a playful smile. They begun their sword fight, like they used to do when they were kids. Though, instead of Lucy losing right away, she stayed with him in rhythm. To Happy, Natsu's blue talking cat, thought the duo looked like they were doing a sword fight waltz.

Lucy successfully disarmed Natsu and pointed her sword at his neck. Natsu stared into her eyes. He grabbed her arm and pulled him into his arms, giving her a crushing bear hug. Lucy grabbed Natsu's collar and kissed him.

"Thank you, Natsu." She said after she pulled away. "For everything." Natsu gave her a goofy smile and lead her to where Happy was. He took the helm and stared off into the sunrise.

"Now, bring me that horizon."

The new team sailed off into the distance, starting a brand new adventure.

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Yay! It's done! Sorry for any mistakes. Again, I'm not very good at one shots and stuff like this. So sorry if you didn't like it. But if you did, great!

And yes. I know I'm late. Day three will be uploaded later.. I hope...

Here's the picture that inspired me- art/AU-pirates-NaLu-5-535305841

Anyways, Read and Review!

Thank you.

:^)

ROCK GOD OVER!