You're Part of My Crew Now, Princess

Sacrifice

When Natsu pulled out a ring of keys from seemingly nowhere Lucy was surprised, to say the least. Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched him select the first key on the ring.

"Where the heck did you get those?" She stared down at them as he knelt and he tried a few in the cell door, quickly and efficiently finding the right one in a matter of seconds.

"What do you think I accidentally bumped into the guard before? Come on Lucy, I steal things for a living."

He responded so casually Lucy frowned, the crew usually worked for their money. Stealing was something she had not seen the crew do as of yet. It made her curious but it was quickly forgotten. The fact he had stolen jingling keys was impressive.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Natsu gestured to Taralee, she didn't need to be told twice and she was out the door. She kept a respectable distance from the pirates and with all good reason, her body tense and looked ready to spring into action if the need be. Lucy wasn't sure she'd trust them right off the bat either.

She thought that but in reality, she climbed onto a pirate ship willingly...and had been enjoying it since. If it had been any other group of pirates it may have been very different.

"Let's see those cuffs," Natsu stated, nodding to the dark metal around her wrists. Reluctantly she stepped forward and held her hands out.

"The lieutenant is the only one with the keys for these; I'm not sure what you can do." Still, she held out her hands.

Natsu took off his helmet and let it clatter to the ground; he reached out and grabbed a firm grip on the metal to inspect it. Then ripped his hand off it like it had burned him, even going as far as to take a step back away from Taralee. Lucy looked at Taralee in alarm for some kind of answer.

"Ah, I see you are also a magic user. You should probably not touch this then. It's a new improvement from the magic-sealing ore they used to use. Not only does it negate your powers but it also drains them. Making you weaker than even a regular human. It's a relatively new concept but it's making its own name in the government, beware of this shit." Taralee spat, her hands dropping back down in front of her in silent defeat.

Lucy watched as Natsu frowned, still staring warily at the glossy metal. He rubbed his hands like they were cold.

"Here...let me try," Lucy spoke up, stepping between Natsu and Taralee and giving what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

Maybe if she could just find a weak spot on it or maybe if she could shimmy it off or something. Ridiculous idea she knew but she needed to try something. Lucy reached out and felt the cool metal under her fingertips. Before she could inspect the cuffs clearly her body jerked and her fingers seared in pain. It felt like the life was getting sucked out of her. What was wrong with her? Was she suddenly struck with some kind of an illness? What was happening?

Strong hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her away from the metal, she was whipped around and forced to face Natsu.

"You idiot! I just told you if you have magic to not touch it! Are you stupid?" Taralee's voice sounded behind her.

"Did you feel it?" Natsu's voice was hushed under Taralee's voice but she heard it clear as day. Her head nodded to his question.

"Are you a mage? Can you use magic?" His eyes seemed darker and harder than she remembered them being. The seriousness in his tone left her speechless and for a few moments, her answer was just a returned stare.

"Maybe?" Came her intelligent reply. It was the most confusing thing to her, but touching that metal and feeling the drain meant that she has powers of some kind right?