The Pirate's Princess & The Dragon Jewels

Chapter 2 - Meeting the Crew

"A pirate ship?" I said shocked, "aye" Natsu replied smiling, oblivious to my shocked expression. "That is..." I started to say searching for the right words. "Lucy?" he asked a little worried now. "Awesome! This is perfect" I said, this was the perfect opportunity to stay away from my father. "Perfect?" he asked a little shocked at my reaction. "I've always wanted to be a pirate" I answered happily, "my mother told me stories about pirates and their adventures when I was little..." I added and instantly went quiet at the memory of my late mother.

"Are you alright Lucy?" he asked worriedly, "yeah... sorry" I replied sadly. "Ok, now I will explain the rules of the ship. Rule number one, all members must respect the captain aka me. Rule number two, all members must follow the captain's orders, no questions asked. Rule number three, never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to anyone outside the crew. Every member must obey these rules, blah blah blah. Now that the rules are out of the way, you need to meet the crew aka my friends!" he said excitedly then grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of his captain's quarters and onto the deck.

The crew stopped their daily chores to stare at me beside their captain. "Everyone meet Lucy, our new member of Fairy Tail!" Natsu introduced. There was a short silence and I thought they disliked me until someone shouted "party!" What surprised me the most was that all the girls surrounded me. Asking me all sorts of questions about myself which I happily answered except for any questions about my family.

I became close to Levy, Wendy and Erza. Levy and I had a similar interest in books, Wendy was the little sister I never had and Erza and I bonded over hitting Captain Natsu over the head because he semi-kidnapped me. Later that evening, I became friends with some of the men onboard. Aside from Natsu, I became close to Gray which Natsu was not too fond about. While Gray was telling me about one of his adventures with Fairy Tail, Natsu interrupted by punching him in the face. "What the hell Natsu!" Gray exclaimed, "Lucy is my friend Ice Stripper!" Natsu shouted. "Why can't I be friends with her Pyro?!" Gray argued, "because I said so Popsicle!" Natsu argued back.

"What did I tell you two about fighting?" Erza said firmly as she stood over them. They instantly cowered behind me. "S-Sorry E-Erza" they stuttered in unison as they peaked out on either side of me. I couldn't help but laugh, "what are you laughing at?!" Natsu and Gray asked in unison which just made me laugh harder. I was loving this ship and everyone on it.

As the party began to cease, I asked Natsu "where would my quarters be?" "Come with me" he said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me with him. He ended up taking me to his captain's quarters. "I don't understand Captain Natsu" I said a little confused. "It's just Natsu and we don't have any spare beds for you to use onboard. So, you can sleep on my bed and I can sleep on my hammock" he replied. "Hammock?" I asked since I couldn't see a hammock hanging anywhere in the room. I watched as he took the hammock out of a chest he had at the end of the bed and begun to hang it up on the hooks on the ceiling.

I couldn't argue with him since there's no spare beds on the ship and he's been so kind as to let me use his bed. Besides, it's not like he's sleeping with me in the same bed. "Are you sure it's alright for me to use the bed?" I asked to clarify. "Aye, I can't make a girl sleep on the floor or in a hammock" he said with a grin as he slipped into his hammock.

"Thank you Natsu" I said with a small smile as I climbed under the covers. "Goodnight Lucy" Natsu said, "goodnight Natsu" I replied before his loud snores could be heard. 'It's been years since someone said goodnight to me. 'It's nice' I thought. His pillow and sheets smelt like a campfire and I didn't dislike it but rather it felt comforting. The rocking of the ship and the scent on his pillow nulled me to sleep.

The next morning, I heard someone mumbling above me and disturbed me from my sleep. I opened my eyes to stare face-to-face with a flying blue cat! I screamed at the top of my lungs and the flying blue cat screamed. Natsu panicked at our screams and fell out of his hammock. "What?! What?! Are we being attacked?!" he exclaimed as he jumped up and searched the room for enemies.

As soon as he spotted the flying blue cat, he relaxed. "Oh it's just you Happy" he sighed, "I wanted to say 'hi' to Lucy and she started screaming!" Happy the flying blue cat said. "How do you think I would react when someone is right in your face when you wake up" I said angry. Then something clicked in my head, "YOU CAN TALK?!" I exclaimed. "Aye! My name is Happy, sorry for scaring you Lucy" Happy replied. I took a deep breath to relax my racing heart. "It's nice to meet you Happy. I'm sorry for screaming at you and I'm sorry my screams woke you up Natsu" I said.

"No worries Lucy, at least you weren't attacked" Natsu said. "I like her Natsu!" Happy said as he flew into my breasts in a hug. I smiled and hugged him back as I scratched behind his ear. "She also knows the best place to scratch!" Happy said happily. "What type of animal are you Happy? I've never seen a cat like you" I asked. "I'm an exceed and I'm not the only one onboard. There's Panther Lily, aka my rival and there's Carla, my future exceed wife" he said with hearts in his eyes.

He was so cute, sounds like he's in a love triangle and I couldn't help but giggle. I gave him a quick hug when we were toppled over by Natsu. "Don't leave me out of the hug!" he said chuckling. Now we were in a human sandwich with Happy in the middle when the door opened.